COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Those state troopers who get you
through traffic at football games and festivals in South Carolina
could soon cost universities, parades and boat shows money, thanks
to a budget veto by Gov. Mark Sanford.
The first-year Republican governor crossed out a section of the
$5.3 billion state budget bill Wednesday that prevents the state
Public Safety Department from collecting fees for working events
that range from Clemson and South Carolina football games to the
Golden Leaf Festival in Mullins.
"It's an invaluable service, not only to our fans, but to the
other teams," South Carolina athletic spokesman Kerry Tharp said.
"It's too early to say what we'd do without it."
Sanford said he vetoed the measure because Public Service, which
oversees the state Highway Patrol and its troopers, "should be able
to assess reasonable fees for support provided to special events."
Sanford spokesman Chris Drummond said Thursday the governor
wasn't demanding the agency collect fees, only giving some
discretion to director Boykin Rose.
"I think (Sanford) wants the agency head to have some flexibility
instead of having his hands tied," Drummond said.
The budget provision had said, "The highway patrol must not
charge any fee associated with special events for maintaining
traffic control and ensuring safety on South Carolina public roads
and highways unless approved by the General Assembly."
Such trooper traffic work typically costs the patrol about $1
million a year in manpower, agency spokeswoman Sherri Iacobelli
said.
However, Col. Russell Roark, who'll take over as head of the
patrol in July, says it's hard to put an accurate figure on the
service because if troopers weren't near parking lots at South
Carolina's Williams-Brice Stadium or Clemson's Death Valley, "they
would be on the highways patrolling."
An example of the real cost, Roark says, comes from the recently
concluded Atlantic Beach Biker weekend last month. Seven of the 16
regularly assigned road troopers in Clarendon and Sumter counties
were assigned to the Grand Strand festival. "That left four in one
county and five in the other to work the roads," he said.
Roark says 89 troopers generally work South Carolina football
games, while 96 are assigned to Clemson's Memorial Stadium on game
days. Those assignments are usually 10- to 12-hour shifts.
Statistics from 2000, the latest available from the Public Safety
Department, showed the "personal service cost" to the agency for the
13 Clemson and South Carolina football games was $236,854.80. Other
pricey traffic jobs that year were listed as the Memorial Day Biker
weekend ($47,370.96) along the Grand Strand, the Southern 500 at
Darlington Raceway ($23,466.17) and the PGA's Heritage golf
tournament ($18,894.40) on Hilton Head.
"That's all part of our mission, a function of our jobs,"
Iacobelli said.
The agency stats also had troopers working at the Ninety Six
Fishing Rodeo ($134.96), the Greenwood Festival of Flowers ($539.84)
and the Saluda Christmas Parade ($151.83).
The Department of Public Safety will work with sister agencies to
determine what, if anything, to charge, Roark said. There is no
established fee structure set up to recoup costs for traffic
control.
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