Budget revenue down $240MState's '08 school bus replacement hit hard: 'The money just wasn't there' The Post and Courier
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
COLUMBIA — Trying to make ends meet, state lawmakers could renege on a promise to contribute nearly $20 million next year to help replace South Carolina's old, and in many cases, dangerous school buses. The Senate Finance Committee sorted through the state budget Tuesday to find ways to make up $240 million as state revenue forecasts grow more bleak by the day. The cuts must be made to the current spending plan and the one that begins July 1. "The money just wasn't there," said Sen. Hugh Leatherman, a Florence Republican and lead budget writer. Related storiesRead the series by The Post and Courier on South Carolina's aging and unsafe bus fleet Buses aren't the only hit public schools could take. The most recent budget projections of the total shortfall show slumping sales tax revenues will leave districts with about $60 million less for this year and next. Victoria Musheff, a Mount Pleasant parent, said she believes it's a mistake to cut money for new buses. She helped push lawmakers to adopt the replacement cycle last year after reading about the deteriorating condition of the state's fleet in an investigative series by The Post and Courier. The newspaper's report found South Carolina's school buses to be the oldest, most- polluting and least safe in the nation. Musheff said she understands that lawmakers need to trim costs in a difficult economic environment, but she doesn't want them to target areas that will "endanger the lives of our children." If lawmakers don't pay for new school buses, the current fleet will remain dangerous with the potential for constant breakdowns and fires, Musheff said. "I know that my child's life alone is worth more than $19.7 million," she said. Boost for retirees?COLUMBIA — A bill that gives legislators and other state retirees an automatic 2 percent cost-of-living increase has received key approval in the House. Gov. Mark Sanford bashed lawmakers Tuesday for voting themselves what he called a backdoor pay increase. There are 330 former and current legislators who can draw retirement. Other state employees are only guaranteed a 1 percent increase. Legislators haven't received a cost of living increase in more than a decade. A Senate panel approved a similar measure last week. The vote came on the same day the Senate Finance Committee eliminated raises for state workers and cut back plans to buy new school buses because of lower than expected revenues. -- Associated Press The state would have to purchase about 480 buses a year to replace the fleet by 2022, but with the proposed cut, the state Department of Education would be able to buy only about 150 new buses. The first allocation provided enough to purchase 551. Charleston-area legislators, including Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell and House Majority Leader Jim Merrill, said finding money to stay on the replacement cycle is a priority. "School buses don't need to be cut," said McConnell, R-Charleston. "If they want a fight on school buses, I suspect there will be one." Merrill, R-Daniel Island, said the state made a commitment to pull those old buses off the road. He hopes the Senate will restore that spending before the budget goes back to the House. House Speaker Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, said he was disappointed that the senators felt the money for the bus replacement cycle needed to be cut. He said, though, he couldn't pass judgment given the tough decisions they were faced with. "I know they are doing the best they can," Harrell said, noting that the House will make any changes it sees fit. The full Senate could begin budget debates as early as next week. The Finance Committee has drawn up a $7 billion budget that also includes an average of 3.6 percent reductions for state agencies. The committee also proposes cutting 2 percent salary raises for state employees to free up money. All told, revenue for the upcoming 2008-09 budget is down by $90 million. Public schools will need to cut a combined total of $30 million from their current budgets and plan on at least $30 million less for next year. With the school year nearing its end, the news Tuesday left frustrated educators with few choices. The cuts must come from one funding source that traditionally pays for school programs, such as summer school, Advanced Placement classes, gifted and talented courses and alternative schools. Under law, teacher salaries are safe from these cuts and individual districts are given flexibility to decide how to manage the loss in other areas. State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex wants the Education Department to absorb as many of the cuts as it can at the agency level to ease the burden on local school districts and leave as much money as possible for classroom instruction, said Jim Foster, agency director of communications. Local school districts will find out the specific amount that they will have to cut from their existing budget within the week, Foster said. The state also has about $90 million less in this year's budget. Gov. Mark Sanford criticized the Legislature for overspending when revenue was flowing into Columbia, and warned that the economic slump is not over yet. "This was not unpredictable," he said during his Cabinet meeting Tuesday. The governor also has been critical about a grants program that has a balance of $18.4 million. He calls the program a legislative slush fund and suggested the Senate look to shifting that balance before cutting elsewhere. ECONOMIC SLUMP The latest budget forecasts have state revenue down by $240 million for this year's and next year's spending plan. The cuts are steep and will have to come from a variety of areas. Here's a breakdown of the situation and the proposed cuts put forward Tuesday by the Senate Finance Committee. -- The current budget must be cut by $90 million. The Finance Committee wants to cut: $19.7 million for new school buses, $4.5 million for a high-speed fiber optic network for South Carolina research institutions, $12.5 million for tourism marketing, $1 million for land conservation, $600,000 for the Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina, $2.4 million for dredging in Charleston Harbor and $50,000 for the ongoing construction of a science center at the College of Charleston, along with a long list of state and local projects. -- The 2008-09 budget, which starts July 1, must be cut by $40 million. The committee wants to eliminate 2 percent salary increases for state employees. An earlier version of the Senate budget anticipated the revenue shortfall and set spending $50 million less than revenue projections at that time. -- Public schools will lose $60 million from the current spending plan and in the next fiscal year. The money comes from the Education Improvement Act fund, generated from a 1-cent sales tax approved in 1984. While teacher salaries funded by the EIA are protected, schools will have to cut spending for an assortment of programs, such as summer school and Advanced Placement classes. Reach Yvonne Wenger at ywenger@postandcourier.com or 803-799-9051. Reach Mindy B. Hagen at 937-5433 or mhagen@postandcourier.com. |
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Comments
This article has 22 comment(s)
Posted by moonpie on April 9, 2008 at 6:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow sounds like Gov Mark was right back when he virtually begged these idiots to stop spending. How about we cut the Hunley guards, and I bet if you look deeper there's more wasteful spending to cut. HEY bring back video poker! Tax the lotto, raise cigerette taxs, tax these poker winnings/games going on everywhere it appears. Just tax, tax, tax us to death and then spend some more! Oh I can't wait for Obama to get in the white house. He must know where the money is hidden. He sure is going to give us everything we ever needed.
Posted by Early on April 9, 2008 at 8:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How are we so poor, if this was my household budget I would be looking hard. I don't know about y'all but my taxes have gone way up, (property taxes)prepared food tax up to 9.75%, state income tax on and on. I hate to keep beating a dead horse but we have to get a grip on our social programs, We can no longer give housing, food and money away. I don't want to take away from the truly needy, I want those who can chip in get off their tail and do so but, you will never get that to happen without taking away the free stuff!
Posted by carolinadude on April 9, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Moonpie: I agree that the Bobby Harrell led rinos in the SC House would "tax us into prosperity". Interestingly according this article, the lawmakers can't fund school buses but can find the money for "a back door" pay increase for themselves. Vote the Rasclas Out!! I KNOW THE PRIMARY FILING IS OVER BUT IS THERE ANY INDEPENDENT OUT THERE WHO'D RUN AGAINST HARRELL??? Cato wants to be the next speaker, so maybe he'll do some "CANDIDATE RECRUITMENT" in Bobby's district.
Posted by greener1 on April 9, 2008 at 8:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I guess no one is buying lotto tickets huh?
Posted by nappyd on April 9, 2008 at 8:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Old news but http://www.strom.clemson.edu/teams/ced/t...
That's where the tax deficit is coming from.
Posted by charlestonnative1963 on April 9, 2008 at 9:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
We first got into this mess when they took out the video poker machines. That as HUGE revenue. But the do gooders won that. It was further worsened when we elected Bush the first time...and a ton of Federal money went to Iraq instead of the states. Program after program was slashed...NOW I know you say it was needed for our national security. WRONG. We should have gone only to Afghanistan and taken Bin Laden out...no need for Iraq and that has been proven over and over again. Thus I will never ever vote for a Republican again.
Posted by crankyyankee on April 9, 2008 at 10:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Locals love the status quo. Nothing will change for the next four years because every one of these jokers in the Statehouse are running unopposed! Go figure.
Posted by Thomas1776 on April 9, 2008 at 10:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Our problems are the result of idiots we have like Harrell. Isn't there a law we can use to put him in jail or something?
Posted by whome on April 9, 2008 at 10:43 a.m. (Suggest removal)
My problem with this "outrage" is that the current situation, while reflective of the broader recession, is exacerbated by the property tax "reform" of a couple years ago, especially given the unrealistic assumptions on which the reform was predicated and its disparate treatment in favor of the wealthy. So now we have a revenue scheme that is heavily dependent on the sales tax on DISCRETIONARY spending. Ummm... in a recession, discretionary spending collapses. Geniuses.
While our housing situation is not nearly as bad as the Midwest, it will still have a negative impact on revenues. The scary thing to watch out for that the credit derivative situations, especially at the county and municipal levels, has not been fully exposed at this point.
Posted by CHRISJIII on April 9, 2008 at 10:48 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Moonpie: I agree with you. It looks like the governor was right!My question is "Why are the teachers the only state employees who have their salaries guaranteed?" The legislature is always using the state employees as their whippping boy. Now they want to cut out the 2% pay raise that was proposed? Give me a break.
Posted by amylrod on April 9, 2008 at 11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
moonpie hit it on the nose. And thanks, nappyd, for sharing the link. Our state elected officials just LOVE to spend beyond the states needs. They continuously override Governor Sanford's vetoes, even by members of his own party. THEY only care about name recognition and the good ol' boy system. South Carolinians will continue to pay through the nose because we keep electing these so called "I feel your pain" do-good losers.
Posted by katrenavantassle on April 9, 2008 at 11:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
GO MARK SANFORD GO!! EVERYONE VOTE THIS YEAR!!!
Posted by Early on April 9, 2008 at 11:26 a.m. (Suggest removal)
CHRISJIII, they may be guaranteed but at a sub standard level. Compare our teachers salary to other states, we fall way behind and, it's not that cheap to live in SC.
Posted by Marianne0558 on April 9, 2008 at 11:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have an idea where to get some of these monies!!!
House of Representative salary : $165,200
Senator salary: $169,300
Mark Sanford: $106,078
Joe Riley: $149,000
Anyone out there know why Riley makes more than the governor of South Carolina?
How about we cut some of these salaries and use that money for buses?
Posted by buff_o_rilla on April 9, 2008 at 4:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I refuse to suppport the the tax and spend government of South Carolina every chance i get, I drive an old car, I buy products online/out of state, If the Cig tax goes up i will be buying those elsewhere too!!!
Posted by Thomas1776 on April 9, 2008 at 5:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The scratch off tickets have less and less winners. The state has it rigged were pay outs are no where near like they were.
People are not buying them anymore. Hence, abolish the state lottery. Waste of time.
Posted by Thomas1776 on April 9, 2008 at 5:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Riley needs a $50,000.00 a year pay cut.
Posted by whome on April 9, 2008 at 6:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
buff_o_rilla: so essentially, you're supporting another state's tax and spend government?
Posted by charlestonnative1963 on April 9, 2008 at 8:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yea,m Go mark go,,,go to another state and cause them the same hardships you caused us...
Posted by charlestonnative1963 on April 9, 2008 at 8:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What has JOE Riley got to do with our state government...nothing...as for government leadership he has more good qualities in his little finger than Mark sanfords entire body. You people would let Sanford take over the entire state...if you have ever been to one of their "private gatherings say with Jeb Bush you might see that factm
Posted by hadenough on April 10, 2008 at 8 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How about we start enforcing the requirement to register your car in the state of SC? I cant count the number of times I see Ohio, Florida and NJ plates driving on our roads with individuals who obviously live here and scam on paying their auto property taxes.
Posted by buff_o_rilla on April 10, 2008 at 4:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Posted by whome (anonymous) on April 9, 2008 at 6:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
buff_o_rilla: so essentially, you're supporting another state's tax and spend government?
I pay no taxes online.