Video: Governor Haley Unveils Budget Proposal
Governor Nikki Haley set her 2016-2017 spending plan on Friday
Columbia , S.C. (WOLO) — On Friday, Governor Nikki Haley announced her $7.43 billion budget proposal for the 2016-2017 fiscal year. The budget highlighted tax cuts, improving education, infrastructure and funding the historic floods.
“The state match off of what FEMA gave was 75 million,” said Governor Haley. “We’re covering the state match, we also wanted to cover DOT’s match which was $280 million to make sure they didn’t have to deal with that.”
The floods also brought to light several issues with dams across the state. As a result, the Governor included funding for dam inspections.
“There will be legislation that goes to private owners of what they need to do and what’s expected of them but also we thought we could do better by adding inspectors,” said Governor Haley.
Other key items in the budget proposal include roughly $300 million towards education, with $3.7 million to improve school facilities. In addition, nearly $345 million dollars towards funding roads.
“This whole budget takes into account what we said last year which is doing the 10 cent gas tax increase and the 2 percentage income tax reduction,” said Governor Haley.
The Governor’s budget is dependent on the general assembly, but she is hopeful they can work together.
“I always look at the budget as a template and say look here’s how we do it we want to support you in how to do this, let us know how to do that and they’ve worked great with us on education, I expect them to work great with us on domestic violence, I hope they can work great with us on roads,” said Governor Haley.
The budget also recommended funding for prosecutors and magistrate judges to fight criminal domestic violence, along with funding for corrections officers and bus drivers.
