Heed warning on budget frugality

The $81 million shortfall in anticipated state revenue underscores the need to follow Gov. Mark Sanford's frugal approach to state government. The shortfall will mean cuts to the supplemental budget and difficult times for some of the expected recipients.

Among those will be local school districts in Berkeley and Dorchester counties, which now are unlikely to get $2.4 million in anticipated funds, and the Patriots Point Authority, which is likely to lose a $500,000 allocation for fire protection at the Yorktown. There reportedly is a possibility that lawmakers will reinstate some of the funds when they return to Columbia in January by taking the flab out of other appropriations.

For years, Gov. Sanford has urged lawmakers to approve budgets that allow for defined, incremental increases based on the inflation rate and state population growth. That steady approach accommodates fiscal responsibility, and not legislative wishful thinking, which explains why it has never gained the Legislature's approval.

Gov. Sanford points out that the current budget of $7.4 billion is about $1.5 billion more than was spent the previous fiscal year. The Legislature, he says, has increased the state budget by nearly 40 percent over the last three years. That reflects a growth both in government and in legislative pet projects.

A lack of legislative frugality may not be so evident while the economy is booming, but quickly becomes apparent when revenue fails to come in at anticipated levels. Just a few years ago, declining revenues forced painful across-the-board mid-year budget cuts. That fiscal disaster showed just how fast reserve funds can be tapped out, as well.

"We've had solid growth for several years, but you simply cannot grow government faster than the underlying economy and expect anything other than this outcome," Gov. Sanford said last week. "I furthermore fear and predict that more pain will come with regard to budget excess over the months and year ahead."

The governor pointed out that in many instances legislative pet projects were funded while lawmakers failed to give needed attention to such essentials as reducing the unfunded liability for state retiree health care. Clearly, the Legislature needs to rethink its priorities.

Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom also has been critical of the Legislature's unwillingness to exercise adequate fiscal responsibility on the billions in unfunded liabilities related to state retirees, which also has an ill effect on the state's credit rating.

The problems of years past should have taught the Legislature a lesson in fiscal restraint. The latest problem says it's time for the Legislature to follow the governor's frugal budgetary lead.