SC lawmakers could borrow millions for college projects

S.C. lawmakers said Thursday they are open to borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars for construction and renovation projects at the state’s public colleges and universities.

But any borrowing plan would need heavy vetting to ensure taxpayers’ money is not wasted on unnecessary projects, some Republicans cautioned.

“Another sports complex with weight rooms and Jacuzzis? I’m not so sure,” said state Rep. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken.

The state’s colleges and universities desperately want legislators to pass the state’s first bond bill for building projects since 2001.

They say they need the money for maintenance and renovation projects that were deferred when the state cut its funding of higher education after the Great Recession and to keep up with the competitors in other states.

Those projects make up the bulk of the roughly $1 billion in added money that colleges and technical schools recently requested from the state in next year’s budget.

Taylor said he could support some of those projects, including $4 million to replace the aging heating and air-conditioning system at a building at the University of South Carolina-Aiken, located in his home county.

Efforts to pass a bond bill for higher education have petered out in recent years in the state’s GOP-controlled legislature.

A $500 million borrowing proposal, much of it for college projects, failed in 2015 after Republican Gov. Nikki Haley threatened to veto the plan, comparing it to running up the state’s credit card debt.

In her State of the State address early last year, Haley again vowed to fight “any effort to bond out hundreds of millions of dollars to fill a wish list for our already bloated higher education system.”

Now, however, Haley is slated to join the Trump Administration, making Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster the state’s leader.

Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said Thursday a push for a bond bill this year could be a “tough sell.”

Lawmakers will want to vet the proposed projects and determine whether other options are available, the Edgefield Republican said.

“A lot of these universities will tell you they have much deferred maintenance, but when you go on their campuses, you see a good bit of building,” Massey said.

College leaders need better communication with legislators, University of South Carolina president Harris Pastides told The State recently.

“The money that we can acquire is so cheap right now, and that’s not going to stay that way,” Pastides said. “Let higher education – with appropriate high accountability and oversight ... make the case, state the need, go out and borrow the money, have the state help us pay it back, and do great things.”

State Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said Thursday the Legislature’s appetite for a bond bill “has always been high.”

They may have their chance if McMaster replaces fellow Republican Haley this spring, he said. “We’re just waiting on a governor who won’t veto it.”

This story was originally published January 5, 2017 at 5:26 PM with the headline "SC lawmakers could borrow millions for college projects."