Money for local projects, firefighters limited if SC Senate OKs budget with $1B tax rebate
In a robust budget year when South Carolina lawmakers had billions of additional dollars, projects with large price tags might not get the money senators asked for, under a plan approved by the Senate Finance Committee.
This comes after the Senate unanimously adopted a $1 billion one-time rebate less than a month after it was introduced by new Senate Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler.
That means less money was available for expensive requests such as $300 million for construction of Interstate 73 to connect Interstate 95 to Myrtle Beach.
State Sens. Greg Hembree, R-Horry, Luke Rankin, R-Horry, and Stephen Goldfinch, R-Georgetown asked for the money to build the project which already has the permits and a significant portion of the necessary land acquisition out of the way. It’s also a project Gov. Henry McMaster supports spending money on.
“This was the year and we clearly have a lot of revenue,” said Hembree, who sits on the Finance Committee. “I mean a crazy amount.”
“If you take $1 billion off the table for one time projects ... inevitably it leaves you with less money to move around,” Hembree said.
Ultimately an earmark for I-73 was not included in the Senate Finance Committee’s $12.4 billion spending proposal that is set for debate starting Tuesday.
When an extended floor debate on the budget begins this week, senators may try to see if they can convince their colleagues to adjust funding levels for some projects.
“The budget process is far from over,” Hembree said. “I think there’s just a lot of cards to be played before this hand’s over.”
Even though the tax rebate plan leaves less money available for projects, senators would have risked not receiving any money for any of their projects if they voted against the tax cut and rebate in the first year where Peeler is leading the budget process.
Senators bring their project requests to Peeler, a Cherokee County Republican, and find out how much gets funded when spreadsheets with dollar amounts are released.
The Senate $1 billion tax cut and $1 billion rebate, introduced by Peeler on Feb. 17, moved quickly and received unanimous support from the chamber.
When the Senate Finance Committee approved the spending plan proposal on April 13, Peeler called it the “people’s budget.”
“That’s because the first thing we did is think about where the money comes from, the hardworking people of the state of South Carolina and we acted accordingly,” Peeler said. “First sending money back to them in the form of a permanent tax cut and tax rebate. The $1 billion in permanent tax cuts and the $1 billion in tax rebates has to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest tax cut, in the state’s history. We did our best to fund the needs of the state while cutting taxes.”
Hembree said Thursday that the group of senators have not received an explanation as to why their I-73 request didn’t make the cut.
Now Hembree said he, Rankin and Goldfinch plan to make a proposal on the floor to include the $300 million to kickstart I-73 construction in the budget.
Hembree acknowledged the strategy may not work.
“The three of us have made clear that this ask is going to be coming,” he said. “A big ask like that, that’s exceptionally difficult (but) we’re at the place where we’re throwing Hail Marys and we’ll throw them as hard as we can.”
State Sen. Thomas McElveen, D-Sumter, asked for $1.75 million for the Shotpouch Greenway project to create a paved path to connect Dillon Park to Swan Lake-Iris Gardens in Sumter County. It receives $350,000 under the proposed Senate budget — or 20% of the original ask.
McElveen, who sits on the Finance Committee, said he didn’t know what was funded and how much the projects received until figures were released on Wednesday night when Senate Finance Committee members approved the budget.
“I am candidly disappointed that 10 years in the legislature, in one of the most robust budget years in our history, it’s probably the local projects that I’m taking home is less than ever,” McElveen said, who supported the tax cut and rebate.
His $150,000 request for the Lee County Council of Aging was granted in full. However, a $1 million request for Carolina Cup equipment and repairs received $250,000.
Other differences in the House and Senate budget include the House spending more on college tuition mitigation to keep tuition and fees frozen than the Senate.
The House budget also included $9 million for health, wellness and athletic facilities at the University of Carolina’s Sumter campus. The Senate Finance budget wouldn’t pay for the project.
“Now, I think what we also have to have as this backdrop that since the recession in 2007-2008, other things got behind,” McElveen said. “Look at a lot of our colleges and universities, for example. There’s a lot of deferred maintenance that hasn’t been kept up with. So when you have you have a robust budget year, obviously, again, its prudent to return some of that money, but it’s also prudent to catch up on some of the things you’ve been putting off.”
For Hembree, his smaller requests received funding in full.
His $50,000 request for the Seahaven Home for Youth, and $50,000 for a Future Farmers of America camp in his district both were fulfilled.
Hembree also made a bigger request. He asked for $2.5 million for engineering work for improvements to state Highway 90, a two-lane road that connects North Myrtle Beach and Conway. The road itself needs hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements, Hembree said.
“We’re 20 years behind on that project,” Hembree said.
The Senate Finance committee budget awarded $900,000 for the project.
Equipment for Fairfield County firefighters
Requests from state Sen. Mike Fanning, D-Fairfield, $6,000 for a Fairfield County summer nutrition program and $35,000 for for the Fairfield County Recreation Center, were fully funded.
But he also asked for $1 million for new air packs for the Fairfield County Fire Department. He received received a $400,000 earmark.
“Certainly it’s disappointing. Absolutely,” Fanning said. “And even though I think a tax cut is a good thing for the citizens of South Carolina, the elements of the tax cuts specifically the rebate is not something that I had constituents demanding that you have a tax rebate.”
The rebate, which was included to benefit those who don’t pay income taxes because they don’t make enough money or have enough deductions to lower their income tax liability, may have had unintended consequences, Fanning said.
Fanning, who voted for the tax cut and rebate, points to how the Senate isn’t on a path to include a bonus for state employees and is forced to weigh rebating money against whether they set aside enough money to pay for lawmakers’ pet projects.
State Sen. Katrina Shealy, R-Lexington, put in requests for projects she believed will help people. Some of Shealy’s requests received most of the money she asked for, while one was significantly reduced.
Shealy requested $301,000 for the Courage Center in Lexington County, and received $300,000. A $50,000 request for the Camp David Summer Academic Enrichment program was fully funded. Shealy also requested $161,000 for a cervical cancer awareness initiative which received $100,000.
However a $918,000 request for the Real Champions pilot project for vulnerable children only received $500,000.
“There are things that we could have done, like building repairs or we could have kept some of that money for future,” Shealy said.
Shealy said she thinks the Senate should have discussed the rebate longer than it did.
“I think if we had all talked about it longer, we probably would may have done something different. I don’t think we gave it enough time,” Shealy said.
Reporter J. Dale Shoemaker of the Sun News contributed to this article.
This story was originally published April 25, 2022 at 10:07 AM.
