COLOMBIA, SC (AP) – Members of the South Carolina House are preparing to debate the state’s nearly $ 10 billion spending plan for next year.
The budget debate starts Monday with some routine polls. More substantial debates are expected later in the week, and there will likely be even more budget debates this summer. The chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Murrell Smith, said that budget writers have taken a conservative approach.
Smith said they will wait to see how much money the state actually collects in taxes before deciding whether to add more to the spending plan, such as an increase for all state employees. The current plan already reserves $ 6 million to pay for all increases in health and dental insurance premiums for civil servants.
The budget being debated includes small annual salary increases for teachers based on their years of service, which typically increase their salary by several hundred dollars a year.
The budget adds about $ 16 million for similar small increases and other bonuses to retain police and prison officials.
The spending plan also includes $ 150 million to repair and renovate buildings at various colleges and universities and $ 31 million to cover state grants, in case there is a drop in lottery revenues normally used to pay for them.
The 2021-22 fiscal year budget also establishes a $ 50 million state disaster relief fund and spends $ 30 million to improve broadband internet, a need that was felt most severely during the COVID-19 pandemic. .
The spending plan sets aside $ 5.5 million to put a nurse in each school, $ 21 million to try to boost the tourism industry after the pandemic almost closed and $ 1 million to buy bulldozers and other combat equipment to forest fires for the state Forestry Commission with taxis to protect drivers.