Palmetto Pride was created to do something about South Carolina's litter problem. Its programs are paid for using fines paid by people caught breaking litter laws. It's got a yearly budget of about $2 million.

But Gov. Mark Sanford thinks that money might get better results somewhere else. As part of his hearings to gather information to write his budget proposal, he's looking into Palmetto Pride's spending.

One thing that bothers him is that the agency's director is paid $120,000, which is more than the governor makes and more than many university presidents in the state earn, even though their staffs and budgets are much larger than Palmetto Pride's.

He also questions Palmetto Pride's hiring of former state representative Teddy Trotter, with a part-time salary of $32,000, when Trotter has no experience in fighting litter.

Meanwhile, the state already has prison inmates picking up trash along our highways. Corrections director Jon Ozmint says inmates now clean every mile of Interstate in South Carolina and about 600 miles of secondary roads once a month. With another $1 million to put more inmates out there, he could double the clean-up to twice a month for every mile of Interstate and those secondary roads, he says.

Gov. Sanford says, "If it turns out your Corrections head says, 'We could cover the entire Interstate system in South Carolina, a whole lot of secondary roads, at a much smaller price than what we're paying for a couple of salaries or on a couple of other fronts', we think it's worth exploring." 

But Palmetto Pride spokesperson Kelly Carver-Melvinn says the program has reduced litter by 33 percent in the state, and trash would start piling up again without Palmetto Pride.

"We've got 30 ongoing programs, and I think without those 30 ongoing programs schools, organizations would see that they wouldn't be able to get some of the funding and additional resources that we're able to provide to them on a regular basis," she says.

Palmetto Pride helps organize volunteers who clean up trash along our roads and provides grants to clean-up groups.

It's not definite that the governor will cut Palmetto Pride's budget. He says he's got nothing against the agency. He just wants to make sure the state gets the most it can for the money it spends to reduce litter.