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On April 16, The Senate Finance Committee (SFC) passed a budget that cuts law enforcement, cuts public education, funds healthcare with one-time money and lays waste to almost every other agency in South Carolina.
The SFC budget fres hundreds if not thousands of teachers, releases some unknown number of prisoners and takes troopers of the road.
Purveyors of the carnage ofer two excuses for the devastation. they point first to the economic downturn and the accompanying revenue decline.
They point next to the $350 million in stimulus money that Gov. Sanford has certifed but not yet requested.
The authors of the SFC budget even wrote and passed a mythical “part III” that uses the stimulus money as if dangling the jailhouse key in front of the condemned. the terrible tragedy of the SFC budget lies not, however, in the layof of teachers and troopers but in the simple and undeniable truth that the entire scenario remains unnecessary.
The SFC budget reflects both poor math and a complete absence of prioritization along with a shameful cynicism that pits one group of South Carolinians against another and attempts to pit them all against the governor.
It does not have to be this way. We do not have to accept the portents of doom from government. there is another option.
For that reason, Sen. Greg ryberg (r-Aiken) and i developed over the last two weeks an alternative budget that accomplishes four things that we believe are the priorities for government.
First, our budget, coupled with recent fexibility legislation, sends $2.57 billion straight to schools to use any way they want. Schools have never received more money for classroom funding.
No teachers need lose their jobs – none.
Second, our budget prioritizes public safety. the Department of public Safety receives over $3 million more than the current year which allows for not only operation at full capacity but also the addition of 75 to 100 new troopers. We increase funding to the Department of Corrections by over $50 million which means that no prisons will close, no prisoners will be released and that its years-old operating deficit is eliminated (the SFC budget continues the deficit spending just as in Washington).
All other public safety agencies receive increases in their funding over last year to ensure that government fulfills its responsibility to protect the public.
Third, our budget restores the seven percent cut of last year to all agencies with healthcare functions. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the primary provider of Medicaid services, receives an increase of over $125 million in recurring money. The DHHS money in our budget will be there next year and the year after that and the year after that.
Our budget lastly, but by no means least, sets aside $200 million for debt reduction. South Carolina will owe by the end of this year nearly $1 billion in loans to cover unemployment benefits payments; $200 million is a start on paying that back.
We do not fund our budget priorities with either a money tree or a secret gold mine. We simply use existing revenue wisely and prioritize.
We also capture common sense savings that Gov. Sanford has promoted for years. We save, for example, nearly $18 million by closing Teacher and Employee Retiree Incentive (TERI) positions.
We fund our priorities and repay debt without one dime of the $700 million Gov. Sanford wants to put toward debt relief. That money might be used for K-12 education enhancement, other government programs, one-time capital projects or additional debt repayment.
We presented this common-sense alternative to the SFC. It was fully detailed and certified as balanced by the State Budget Office. The committee chairman denied us even the chance to vote on it.
We will present this fiscally responsible alternative to the full Senate where the rules require at least an opportunity to vote on it. We urge you to call your senator and ask him to consider the alternative to what even the chief proponent of the SFC budget labeled “Armageddon.”
It does not have to be this way. You can replace despair and defeat with responsibility and fairness. Call today. Sen. Tom Davis (R-Beaufort) can be reached at (803) 212-6008.
