State lawmakers will return next week after a furlough. Next month a select panel from the House and Senate will gather to hammer out their differences on the state’s budget. The state faces a half a billion dollar shortfall this budget year alone. State agencies are facing major cutbacks.
Democrats say that a big part of the problem has been the failure of the Republican-led General Assembly to keep reserve funds. Leading House Democrat Harry Ott says that’s actually one principle he has had in common with Governor Mark Sanford, that it helps to keep something in the bank.
We never accumulated any reserves. When times were good and we had more revenue coming in than we needed, we never accumulated a fund balance that would help to get us through these very difficult times.
