Looking for savings

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Given the fiscal challenges facing South Carolina, some of Gov. Mark Sanford's ideas for saving money might seem like small potatoes. But the ideas have merit beyond the relatively small amount of money the state will be able to trim from the budget.

The latest idea is to sell almost half of the vehicles owned by the state and move toward alternatives often embraced by the private sector such as short-term rentals, long-term leases and employee reimbursement for mileage. If Sanford is successful, the state would save an estimated $33.7 million dollars with an annual recurring savings of about $8.5 million.

The governor then wants to use $25 million of the one-time savings to help lessen the burden on state employees for their health insurance. State employees not only have worked without pay raises during the lingering budget crisis, but also they have seen their share of health insurance increase tremendously. The budget picture looks equally bleak for the next year, with Sanford saying the budget shortfall will be between $350 million and $500 million.

Sanford's proposal begs the question of why South Carolina has far more state vehicles, excluding those used by higher education and school buses, than many of its fellow Southern states.

This latest idea comes on top of other ones such as selling off some of the state airplane fleet and saving money on travel expenses by using the federal lodging rate for hotels and asking state employees to share hotel rooms whenever possible. None of these ideas will make up most of the ground in the projected budget deficit. All of them serve the extraordinarily useful function of forcing a thorough review of how state government spends money and how it could save money.