Sanford pushes for specific cutsGovernor urges lawmakers to reconvene to trim state budget By Bo Petersen (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Friday, August 22, 2008
Past storyBudget deficit equal to tax cuts; Shortfall a 'perfect storm,' state's top economist says, published 8/14/2008 The six highway patrolmen didn't move a muscle while the governor tried to move a Legislature. Gov. Mark Sanford, flanked by the troopers, appealed to people on Thursday to call their legislators to go back into session and stop across-the-board budget cuts. The cuts would impair "core government functions" like public safety, he said. Sanford wants the Legislature to make cuts agency-by-agency instead. He compared it to how a family cuts its budget — they skip going to the movies, they don't skip paying the mortgage. "Businesses do it. Families do it. We think governments should do it that way," he said. Sanford spoke at the Highway Patrol headquarters in North Charleston, one of three stops across the state to rally popular support before the Republican caucus meets this weekend in Charleston. State Rep. Jim Merrill of Charleston, Republican majority leader, said he expects it to be discussed at the caucus. "I think there's certainly some within the caucus who would prefer us to go back and do more measured cuts," he said. But the governor's argument is a little disingenuous, Merrill said. Most agency cuts will come from "rainy day funds," or money set aside from operations for special needs. "If we go back, we'll probably get smacked around for going back in" because of the cost to taxpayers, he said. State agencies were ordered to make immediate 3 percent budget cuts earlier this month after the Board of Economic Advisors reported that revenue collections were down by $222 million for the fiscal year that just ended. Revenue for the current fiscal year is expected to be 5 percent lower than originally expected. The Legislature is not scheduled to go back into session until January 2009. Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, finance committee chairman, already had rebuffed Sanford on agency-by-agency cuts. Not including in the cuts "core functions" such as public safety or education, which comprise most of the budget, would mean other agencies would have to take a 10-to-15 percent cut that they can't absorb, he said. "Any well-managed agency should be able to cover a 3 percent cut," Leatherman said. Recalling legislators would cost more than $100,000 per week, he said, and would be premature because it's too early in the fiscal year to tell if the economy will get better or worse. The cuts can be adjusted in January. Reach Bo Petersen at 745-5852. |
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Comments
This article has 9 comment(s)
Posted by zoomru on August 22, 2008 at 2:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Sanford's gettin' down with some SHOWMANSHIP !!! This should have been done the first day he took the OATH !!
Legislators......you RAVENEL'ers !! I highly suggest you start ACTING like you even give a CRAP !!! It should NOT cost taxpayers one red CENT for you to go back and FINISH the cluster you LEFT our state in?? What's worse to the foundation to which our country was built on? Your apathetic attitude or the VOTERS apathetic and blind following of your "Party"?? !!
MARK....get you a couple of guys like the ones that dress up for the REDSKINS games for the caucus this weekend and show NO MERCY !!! Call them your PORK MASTERS !! Guess how much your "POSSE" cost you? Does 100K ring a GERMAN bell? Each one will have their OWN personal fake Tattoo to be revealed at the appropriate ....time !! BY...GOD, we need line item VETO. NOW !!!!
Mark...God help you if you do NOT do this!?
WE ARE FED ....UP !!
Posted by zoomru on August 22, 2008 at 3:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
WHAT???...
http://www.thestate.com/statewire/story/...
.."Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell didn't like any of it. "I don't think we get leadership on this by press releases and press conferences," McConnell said in an interview."..
Might WE remind you GLENN McConnell-ista that you LEAD from the front !!! You RAVENEL'er..! Do you actually talk to VOTERS and citizens ON THE STREET ? Are you NUTZ ??
Glenn ...WE didn't see you stand up to the PORK ? Do you know anything about fiduciary DUTY? Well...DO YOU? ....and What is with this 100K per week figure? I highly suggest you make a call to put some PUP TENTs on order for the STATEHOUSE lawn !! Don't tell me that you dont have WIFI up there for legislators to do overtime work from their TENTS?? You may need to get in touch with Senatoro Linse' Suave' Graham-nista about permits for any BON-FIRES... you do know that he has to be called to move SAND for our ports!
GET BUSY !!
Posted by zoomru on August 22, 2008 at 3:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)
If dogs are now officially "MORAL" ?.....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...
....THEN Legislators.....look OUT ?!
Posted by majorjohnson on August 22, 2008 at 8:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The legislature doesn't do their job while in session, then if we tell them to work late and get it done we get charged overtime to the tune of $100,000 a week. Since when did our legislature start being paid hourly? They must have unionized.
Posted by lou9 on August 22, 2008 at 9:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Normally I agree with the governor but in this case I think the across the board cuts are the right thing to do. Sure the individual agencies will complain but requiring everyone to cut back is the fairest thing. If the legislature listened to Mr. Sanford and hadn't insisted on spending like there was no tomorrow when we had a surplus we wouldn't be in this mess now.
Posted by AHLeland on August 22, 2008 at 10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
He took the words right out of my letter to the editor yesterday.
Posted by martin on August 22, 2008 at 10:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Can't Mark show his leadership and name the programs and agencies he think should be cut?
He needs to call the legislature on this one by doing so.
He needs to show his office is so plugged into what the state government is doing that he knows what should be cut and what should be left alone.
Posted by guidedbystewart on August 22, 2008 at 1:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I really don't think Sanford has done a good job. How many well paying jobs has Sanford brought? How has the overall standard of living for most South Carolia's have faired since Sanford has been in office? I think that running an office based just a narrow idealogy and not pragatism is a mistake.
Posted by sixcar on August 23, 2008 at 9:30 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The state budget process is no different than at the federal level. Every year, each agency applies for the funding they will need to operate for the next fiscal year. By the 11th month of the fiscal year, an untold amount of funding remains unspent. In order to prevent losing that "excess" money in the next budgeting session, agencies scramble to spend the money (they really didn't need in the first place), so as not to lose it in the next fiscal year. This cycle is endless.
Unless government changes the budget review process to include an expense/balance sheet audit for the last 60 days of a fiscal year, the process will never change, and the call for increased funding into the next fiscal year will be endless.