SC taxpayers pick up $4 million tab for House members salaries, expenses

By Rick Brundrett | The Nerve

South Carolina House Speaker Bobby Harrell has bragged in recent years that House furloughs save taxpayers $50,000 a week in mileage, meals and lodging expenses.

But what Harrell failed to mention about this year’s three-week layoff is that neither he nor anyone else in the 124-member chamber who receives a $10,400 base salary plus another $1,000 monthly in “in-district” income saw those paychecks shrink – unlike what typically happens to furloughed private-sector workers’ pay.

And, at the end of the day, S.C. taxpayers are stuck with a multimillion-dollar tab for less than six months of actual work in Columbia by lawmakers who annually descend on the Capital City starting on the second Tuesday in January.

A review by The Nerve of House expense records obtained under the S.C. Freedom of Information Act found that taxpayers shelled out a total of $3.85 million last year in salaries and expenses for House members, and$2.93 million through June 6 of this year.

at The Nerve.