Cash-rich tiny SC agency could get big budget boost

By Rick Brundrett | The Nerve

As of three weeks ago, the South Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority had nearly $48 million in cash on hand, state comptroller general records show.

Despite being cash-rich, however, the four-employee agency, which has been in operation less than two years, says it needs a 409 percent increase in general funds for the fiscal year that starts July 1. And the South Carolina Senate fulfilled that request, voting last month to hike the RIA’s general-fund budget for fiscal 2015 to $7 million, an increase of $5,625,000 from its current state appropriation of $1,375,000.

The House version of next fiscal year’s budget, which passed in March, would give the RIA a somewhat smaller increase – $3 million more in non-recurring, surplus general funds, according to the Office of State Budget.

at The Nerve.