Governor Mark Sanford held a budget hearing Monday with representatives of various state agencies, who talked about their budgets and possible cost cutting measures.

Sanford says this is an incredibly difficult budget year.  “We still have a long way to go given the size of the hole,” said the Governor.  “Half a billion dollars that has to be made up in order to keep this year’s government services current.  There’s another cliff yet to come.  When the federal stimulus funds come to an end you will be looking at a $920 million shortfall.”

The suggestions made for cost cutting were minimal. State agencies have already faced major cuts in recent years.  There were not many ideas mentioned by agency representatives that had not already been put in place.

Department of Transportation Comptroller Angela Feaster told the Governor that her agency could save approximately $300,000 a year for each rest area that it closed. She said if the agency had to resort to that, and it’s just an idea at this time, that the rest areas considered would be those located in more developed urban areas, where motorists had other options for rest stops.  [Read more...]