Harvey Peeler

As legislators prepare to return to session next week, one lawmaker says no state agency is safe from budget cuts. A slow economy and high unemployment has left a gap of more than a half-billion dollars.

A report released by the state budget office estimates South Carolina is taking in about the same amount of money it took in seven years ago. Since then, as the population has grown, so has the need for services. But the economy has soured.

So just like last year, the General Assembly is going to have to find ways to provide services with what money it has.

“You go back and look at where those agencies were funded in that fiscal year and try to adjust,” said Rep. Dan Cooper, who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee.

“I don’t think you can look at this budget without every agency taking some cuts,” said Rep. Harry Ott, the House’s top Democrat.

According to Rep. Ott, the best place to start is to find specific programs within each agency.

“What I want to do is have targeted budget cuts so we have the least amount of impact on these agencies,” he said.

That might mean eliminating teacher workdays in schools and programs that have little to do with classroom instruction.

On the Senate side, Majority Leader Harvey Peeler says no program is safe from cuts.

“Nothing’s off the table,” he said. “We’ll look at every state agency and everywhere we can spend wisely we will and if it’s not a wise expendIture, it will be cut.”

If anyone thinks this year is bleak, budget estimates say the gap grows to more than a billion dollars next year once the federal stimulus dollars are no longer available.

WIS