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SC awash in multibillion-dollar surplus of 'other' funds

By RICK BRUNDRETT In South Carolina, $8.6 billion represents about $1,600 for every man, woman and child. It’s also the total amount of “other” fund surpluses that state agencies carried into the start of this fiscal year, The Nerve found in a review of records provided by the S.C. Department...

Rick Brundrett

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April 23, 2025

  • SC awash in multibillion-dollar surplus of 'other' funds

    By RICK BRUNDRETT In South Carolina, $8.6 billion represents about $1,600 for every man, woman and child. It’s also the total amount of “other” fund surpluses that state agencies carried into the start of this fiscal year, The Nerve found in a review of records provided by the S.C. Department...
    Rick Brundrett

    Written by
    April 23, 2025

  • Taxpayer tab now at $8M to investigate disputed $1.8B, related matters

    UPDATE: 4/21/25 - After hours of debate, the S.C. Senate voted 33-8 to remove state Treasurer Curtis Loftis from office for “willful neglect of duty” under a provision of the S.C. Constitution that requires a two-thirds vote of both chambers. The removal resolution will go to the S.C. House for...
    Rick Brundrett

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    March 31, 2025

  • State agencies reveal hiring outside lawyers after initial denials

    UPDATE: 4/21/25 - After hours of debate, the S.C. Senate voted 33-8 to remove state Treasurer Curtis Loftis from office for “willful neglect of duty” under a provision of the S.C. Constitution that requires a two-thirds vote of both chambers. The removal resolution will go to the S.C. House for...
    Rick Brundrett

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    March 31, 2025

  • Turf War: How a liquor-liability reform bill died in the S.C. Senate

    By RICK BRUNDRETT In South Carolina, lawyers represent far less than 1% of the state’s total workforce, but they make up nearly 30% of the 170-member S.C. Legislature. And in the club of 50 lawyer-legislators, those who practice personal injury law or whose law firm colleagues handle those types of...
    Rick Brundrett

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    February 26, 2025

  • McMaster's priorities: Reduced taxes, school choice, civil liability reform

    By RICK BRUNDRETT In his eighth State of the State Address on Wednesday before the S.C. General Assembly, Gov. Henry McMaster outlined his priorities as South Carolina’s longest-serving governor, including lowering the income tax rate further, reforming civil liability laws and improving school choice opportunities. The Republican governor, who took...
    Rick Brundrett

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    January 31, 2025

  • State treasurer dodges key questions on $1.8B controversy

    By RICK BRUNDRETT Under questioning last April at a state legislative hearing, longtime S.C. Treasurer Curtis Loftis answered “yes” when asked by then-Sen. Mike Fanning if the mystery $1.8 billion was “real money that I can touch,” and if it could be withdrawn “today.” Loftis, a Republican who was first...
    Rick Brundrett

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    January 29, 2025

  • Cost of investigating mystery $1.8B already overbudget

    UPDATE: 1/15/25 - In a 65-page report released late this afternoon, AlixPartners, a New York-based global consulting firm, determined that about $1.6 billion of the mystery $1.8 billion "did not represent real cash." Instead, the approximately $1.6 billion was "incorrectly recorded" to a bank fund as part of a transition years...
    Rick Brundrett

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    January 15, 2025

  • Most S.C. municipalities don't livestream regular meetings

    Editor’s note: This is another story in a planned series of stories on livestreaming and other transparency issues affecting local or state government in South Carolina. By RICK BRUNDRETT More than two-thirds of the 271 incorporated towns and cities in South Carolina do not livestream their regular council meetings, The...
    Rick Brundrett

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    December 17, 2024

  • Citizens can now see salaries of higher-paid S.C. judges

    Update: 3/17/25: The S.C. Department of Administration, without giving a specific reason, informed The Nerve that Judicial Department salaries are no longer included in the state salary database. But the salaries of judges and court staff making at least $50,000 annually can now be found here on the Judicial Department's...
    Rick Brundrett

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    November 19, 2024

  • Plenty of SC school districts don't livestream official meetings

    Editor's note: This is the first story in a planned series of stories on livestreaming and other transparency issues affecting local or state government in South Carolina. By RICK BRUNDRETT Nearly 30% of South Carolina’s regular school districts don’t livestream official meetings, though nearly all of them have websites and...
    Rick Brundrett

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    October 28, 2024