This is what the South Carolina budget includes for pay raises to state workers

Joseph Bustos
·2 min read

State employees will see a $1,125 or 2.25% pay raise, whichever is greater, starting July 1 under a proposed spending plan from budget writers approved Friday.

The pay raise will cost the state $61.5 million more a year and is part of a nearly $14.5 billion budget now headed to the General Assembly for an up or down vote.

Employees earning more than $50,000 a year will see the 2.25% raise.

The increase is meant to give a higher percentage increase to those on the lower end of the pay scale to help battle the effects of inflation.

“A majority of that raise will be on the state employees who make the least amount of money,” said House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister.

Lawmakers are scheduled to be back Wednesday, the day after the runoff elections, to take up the budget and completed conference committee reports.

After approval by the general assembly, the budget still needs to be signed by Gov. Henry McMaster.

As part of the proposal, budget writers included $107 million toward the state health insurance plan to ensure those in program don’t see any premium increases. The state health plan cover state employees, retired state employees and teachers.

Budget writers had planned to finish their work last week, but hit a snag with negotiations. After a couple of days away from one another, House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister and Senate Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler were able to work out an agreement.

The amount finally approved for state employee raises ended up being in the middle of what the House and Senate each proposed.

The House plan included a $1,000 raise or 1.5% for anyone earning more than $66,667 year. The Senate proposed a $1,375 or a 2.75% pay increase.

The compromises were made easier when the Board of Economic Advisors increased how much budget writers had to work with in their May estimate.

Budget writers had a total of $816 million in recurring money to allocate and $1.3 billion in one-time dollars to appropriate.