County to State: Give Our Money Back

Programs will be cut under the newly passed Dorchester County 2013 budget — and council members are hoping those cuts will send a message to Columbia and force action to fully or at least fairly fund the Local Government Fund, which faces a deficit this year, like past years.

"This is not throwing in the towel; it's just the opposite. I hope it makes a statement (by passing this budget)," Councilman David Chinnis said Monday during council's regular meeting in St. George. Chinnis looked to the audience and added: "Call Columbia and complain."

According to County Administrator Jason Ward, the state has shorted the county $1.7 million, which comes out of the underfunded Local Government Fund.

"As a reminder, on May 8, the state Board of Economic Advisors certified an additional $137 million coming into state coffers in sales and income taxes above earlier estimates for the fiscal year ending June 30, as well as an extra $18 million in lottery sales. That is a total of $155 million in one-time money plus $137 million in recurring funds or $292 million. We just want $40 million of the $78 million they owe to fully fund the Local Government Fund," Ward wrote Patch.

Councilmembers said it was a matter of returning money to taxpayers, and ending the county's status as a "donor" county.

"They are not returning your money to you; they're keeping it," Chinnis said

In December,  with less than 10 years of service which was an $800,000 cut. According to Ward at the time, this cut went to fund a 2.8 percent pay raise for county employees. State employees still receive state assistance in paying for retiree health and dental benefits. 

Prior to the unanimous vote to pass the 2013 budget, council was split along the best course of action to send a message to Columbia: Pass the budget now and show the state what they had to cut with the missing funds, or stall the passage and up the pressure by refusing to pass a budget without the missing funds. The motion to delay passage failed 3-4, with Councilmen Richard Rosebrock making the motion. 

Click here to read the ordinance for the budget.

Cuts include $800,000 from retiree benefits and dental benefits for employees at the county for less than 10 years. But if the House's version of the budget is passed, the county would likely have to cut an additional $135,000 from court attorney for public defender and solicitor; $100,000 from the new St. George-Summerville Tri-County Link bus service; $250,000 from deferred compensation plan; and $50,394 from administrator contingency fund, according to Ward.

According to the county's presentation on the budget, if the local fund is restored, all proposed cuts can be funded. 

Passing the budget with the cuts for employees was a tough pill to swallow for Councilman Jay Byars, who argued that cutting employee benefits hurts the county in the long-run as it will lose competent employees who help keep government small and efficient. 

"We're cutting things that are actually necessary," Byars said. "It's one thing to go on a diet ... it's another thing to commit suicide by annorexia."