Volvo incentives package could cost $87M more

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The incentives package that brought Volvo to South Carolina could cost taxpayers an additional $87 million if the state pays for promised infrastructure improvements entirely the way Gov. Nikki Haley wants.

That’s on top of the $123 million the state would borrow.

House leaders propose putting $70 million of a newly available windfall toward the Volvo commitment, leaving $53 million to borrow.

Haley said Monday she expects a legislative panel to approve borrowing all $123 million as the chambers’ leaders promised in April.

She says Volvo wants it funded that way.

That would require creative financing and interest-only payments. Documents for the panel’s meeting Wednesday show the debt service over 17 years would total nearly $87 million.

Haley says she’d support authorizing borrowing the full amount, then paying it down.