Picking out pork in the state budget

Despite a state budget that’s been cut by more than $1billion, Gov. Mark Sanford says lawmakers’ budget for next year still contains pork. The House and Senate hope to have a final version on the governor’s desk this week.

Examples of what he calls waste and inefficiency are:

—$750,000 for hydrogen research, even though similar federal funding was removed recently after the determination was made that the technology isn’t immediately viable.

—$1 million for the Highway Patrol to provide traffic control at football games, while universities make millions on ticket and concession sales and TV contracts.

—$500,000 to operate two state-run golf courses.

—$75,000 for the Clemson Spring Day Dairy Exhibit.

When told about those items, taxpayer Tom Johnson said, “When you have school districts having to lay off teachers, I think that’s doing us a disservice down the road.“ 

Fellow taxpayer Mable Overby agreed, saying, “I think that the priorities should be with education, health care, policemen, firemen and the infrastructure.“

But House Ways and Means Committee chairman Rep. Dan Cooper, R-Piedmont, says those are the priorities of the budget. While the suggestion has been made before that the state should get out of the business of running golf courses, he says, “They belong to the state park system and I assume the state park system generates some revenue off of it. I know the state of Georgia, for example, has state parks that have golf courses in them, and even with all of their budget cuts they continue to operate those golf courses.“

As for taxpayers paying for game day traffic control by state troopers, House Speaker Bobby Harrell says, “Safety on the highways is the responsibility of the Highway Patrol. It is appropriate that the Highway Patrol picks up the expense of making sure that folks are safe on the highway. Once they turn off the highway onto private property or school property, then it becomes the school’s responsibility and they do provide their own traffic control actually on their grounds.“

He says the $750,000 for hydrogen research is money that’s already been spent on a recent National Hydrogen Conference in Columbia.

Taxpayers were particularly upset about the $75,000 for a Clemson dairy exhibit. While that’s not a lot of money in a $5.7 billion budget, taxpayer Marion Smith says, “We certainly shouldn’t be spending money on things that are wasteful when we have important projects that aren’t funded well enough.“

According the Clemson PSA (Public Service Activities), the dairy exhibit is an event for 4H and Future Farmers of America groups. About 500 people participate in dairy judging and other events.