(NewsWorthy.news) – South Carolina has amassed roughly $1.8 billion in a bank account over the past ten years with no apparent knowledge of where the money came from or where it is going. Republican Senator Larry Grooms is leading a Senate panel that is investigating the issue.
Grooms commented that it was like entering your bank only to be told your vault contains a huge sum of money with no idea who it belongs to. Since the discovery, the bank account is being looked into by state and private accountants. The discovery follows previous troubles with the state’s books that led to the top accountant for South Carolina resigning in 2023 over a $3.5 billion error in the yearly financial report.
The problem that prompted Republican Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom’s departure related to his agency double-posting money in higher education accounts resulting in the $3.5 billion error that was all on paper. The issue was rooted in the state’s shift to computer systems in the 2010s. Grooms commented that politics should not come into play and that people prefer accountants to not act as “crusaders”, following the Senate’s approval of a constitutional amendment that makes the comptroller general an appointed position.
The latest concern with the state’s account appears to involve cash and Republican Curtis Loftis, the elected treasurer, who has to write checks for the state. Investigative accountants are attempting to solve the mystery. According to state Senate leaders, it seems that every time the state’s books were out of balance, money was moved into an account that helped with balancing it out.
South Carolina is in a good situation economically as of March 2024. Under a spending plan being debated by the South Carolina House, state employees and teachers could get raises. Revenues are up despite cutting of taxes and a $13.2 billion budget is proposed for the next fiscal year. Regarding the mystery bank account, Loftis stated that he invested the money and that the state made almost $200 million in interest as a result. When asked why he did not inform the General Assembly that he had set the money aside for state agencies. he said it was not his job to inform them. Loftis accused the comptroller general of “shifting blame” to clean up the mess.
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