Governor Haley Vetoes 87 Items in State Budget

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Columbia , S.C. (WOLO) — On Tuesday, Governor Nikki Haley slashed $30 million from the state budget and vetoed 87 items. “When there is new money, there is a discipline that is required of all of us and that discipline is to remember that the new money is taxpayer money and it doesn’t mean that we want to spend that out to everyone,” said Governor Nikki Haley. With the start of the fiscal year one day away, Governor Haley vetoed 87 line items from the state budget. The Governor criticized the spending bill for including special projects that she said should not be paid for using state tax dollars. “We don’t need to be paying for the Spartanburg City Park, we don’t need to be paying for the Newberry Opera House, I love it but those aren’t things that state dollars go to,” said Haley. The more than $7 billion budget includes several issues the Governor favors, including money for education, initial funding for body cameras for county governments, and millions of dollars in new money to help fix South Carolina roads. “That’s $350 million dollars in new money going straight to roads and we did not have to raise taxes to do it,” said Governor Haley. Despite many hot button issues debated inside the State House for several months, the Governor commended lawmakers for prioritizing where the money is spent. “While it was heated during the legislative session, I think it was productive for the taxpayers because we did end up getting a lot of the results that we were hoping to get,” said Haley. Legislatures will return on Monday, July 6th to address the budget vetoes and are expected to discuss the Confederate flag issue.