The Great Pork Debate

Tucked away at the tail end of part 1B of the budget bill is proviso 90.20, which deals with state non-recurring revenue: that is, revenue that’s only available for one year. Lawmakers have roughly $515 million dollars to appropriate in whatever way they see fit.  Yesterday senators debated an amendment that would take some of those funds and provide income tax relief. The Finance Committee, for its part, has allocated the money to a plethora of state agencies and non-profit organizations, and in the end that’s what the Senate did.

1. Spartanburg Community College Cherokee Campus – $3.5 million
2. Spartanburg Amusement Train Disaster Relief Fund – $2 million
3. Town of Holly Hill infrastructure – $450,000
4. City of Charleston African American Historic Sites Preservation – $200,000
5. City of Hilton Head capital land purchase – $200,000
6. North Myrtle Beach Historical Museum – $300,000
7. SMART ride for Camden – $80,000
8. University Center of Greenville – $100,000
9. Clinton Junior College – $200,000
10. Voorhees College – $300,000
11. Irmo Veterans Park – $30,000
12. Marion County Habitat for Humanity project – $250,000
13. Central Carolina Technical College – $1.65 million

These are just a few items from the list. So: would it be fair to say that senators have chosen pork over tax relief and debt repayment?