SC House considers budget with no pay raise for SC state workers

The S.C. House began deliberations Monday on the state’s roughly $8 billion general fund budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

That budget includes about $520 million in added dollars to spend on new needs. However, it does not include money for a pay raise for the state’s roughly 60,000 employees.

About half of those workers are paid out of the general fund budget. The others are paid with federal dollars or other money, including tuition money.

Instead of a raise, S.C. House budget writers approved covering state workers’ increased health insurance costs and putting $150 million in general fund money into the state’s underfunded pension system.

The House will continue its budget debate and voting Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the state Senate’s budget panel Tuesday will take up a 12-cent-a-gallon gas-tax hike to pay to repair the state’s crumbling roads.

This story was originally published March 13, 2017 at 4:27 PM with the headline "SC House considers budget with no pay raise for SC state workers."