Smiling Faces, Federally Dependent Places │ SC’s reliance on DC’s dollars

More than a third of our budget depends on a source that’s headed for financial ruin. The federal government is now $14 trillion in debt and running a $1.3 trillion deficit. That’s bad news for South Carolina.

The 2011 State Budget: Seven Things That Make Us Cringe

The Legislature has sent the state budget to the governor’s desk. As expected, it’s wasteful, irresponsible, and displays a poor sense of priorities. There are scores of examples to choose from. Here are seven.

Breaking Open the State Budget: Other Funds Spending in South Carolina

States use different budget categories to differentiate the sources and purposes of
different revenue streams. South Carolina, like other states, has multiple funding
categories. Broadly speaking, state spending is divided into the following four areas: 1)
the General Fund; 2) Federal Funds; 3) Other Funds; and 4) Proviso/Special Funding
spending not included in any of the previous categories.1

Budget Watch 2011: The Spending Train Returns

Government spending grew every year from 2002 to 2009. In 2010, the overall budget decreased by less than a half of 1 percent – not because lawmakers cut spending, but because revenues dropped. This year’s budget continues down the same path…

Budget Watch 2011 – Fiscal Sanity Alert

Legislators are almost finished with the state budget. Here’s a taste of what’s in it …

Games Legislators Play: Tricks, gimmicks, and fuzzy accounting in the 2011-2012 budget

Irresponsible government spending doesn’t always happen in the open. Sometimes it’s hidden by a smokescreen of complicated budgeting practices. Take this year’s Senate Finance Budget . . . .

Budget Watch 2011: The South Carolina Budget is Growing – Fast

What happened to the ‘tough budget year’? A few weeks ago we reported that the House version of the budget was larger than last year’s budget by about half a billion dollars. The Senate Finance Committee’s budget is $101 million larger than the House budget.

Budget Watch 2011: Lawmakers still funding waste

Bad budget provisos: Provisos are lines in the state budget that give temporary authorizations for the use of state money. Like federal earmarks, they’re usually inserted into the budget by individual legislators. Provisos are only in effect for one year, but most of them are on autopilot – they stay in the budget year after year, with virtually no scrutiny or debate.

Proposed House Budget: Is Total Spending Really Down?

The House budget, as passed by the full Ways & Means Committee, was finally posted yesterday. The budget (H 3700) is expected to go to the floor for a vote on March 14 and will likely be passed by the House before members take a week-long furlough that begins on March 22.

Proposed House Budget Largest in South Carolina History

The budget is expected to hit the House floor on March 15. According to various media outlets, that budget is $5.2 billion. But as the Policy Council has written before, this siloed approach to the state budget only tells part of the story. The $5.2 billion only represents General Fund appropriations – and ignores Other Funds and Federal Funds revenue.