Governor Issues Statement on Receipt of State Budget

Governor Issues Statement on Receipt of State Budget

GOVERNOR SAYS BUDGET FAILS TO LOOK OUT FOR TAXPAYERS, DOESN'T PREPARE STATE FOR FUTURE LIABILITIES

Governor Mark Sanford issued the following statement upon receipt of the state budget finally sent to his desk today, despite the legislature having completed their work on the spending plan the week before:

"As we continue to move around the state and have conversations with people about this budget, it's never been clearer that this spending plan is a failure when it comes to looking out for taxpayers and preparing our state for future liabilities," Gov. Sanford said. "While we'd applaud the complete repayment of money previously raided from trust funds and applaud what was provided in the way of tax relief, the fact is that there are a billion more dollars coming into state government this year for the first time and the state has a $9 billion unfunded healthcare liability looming. Based upon that, we've said from day one more could be done to return dollars to taxpayers and set more aside for a rainy day. Now that we've finally received this budget that grows government by over 13 percent, we're looking forward to beginning our review process in an effort to return a greater level of fiscal responsibility to the state's spending."

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