Task Force, Website Will Track Stimulus Spending in SC

South Carolina taxpayers concerned about how federal stimulus money is spent will be able to keep track of not only how it’s spent but what effect the money has.

State Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom says has to collect new details about the money that it hasn’t had to keep track of before. “Such as, how many new jobs are created by whatever it is that’s being spent? That’s not a part of our accounting records system. What sort of tax increases do we avoid because of this money?“ he says.

A Stimulus Oversight Task Force has already started meeting to figure out how to get and report that information.

The state also has a website that will let you track stimulus spending. You can find it here.

Eckstrom says, “As the money’s being spent now we’re capturing that and we’re developing the ability for any person, anyone that has Internet access, to come on this same website and within a few days we’ll have the details of how that money has been spent. We break it down by agency and by program.“

For example, the site has a map from the state Department of Transportation showing the location of road repaving and safety projects it will use stimulus money to complete.

Some stimulus funds have already come into the state, like an additional $25 per week for people collecting unemployment benefits. Millions have also come in for the state’s Medicaid program, to pay health care providers for treating low-income families.

South Carolina is definitely getting $2.1 billion from the stimulus plan. Gov. Mark Sanford and state lawmakers are fighting over an additional $700 million over two years. He’s against spending it for anything except paying down debt, but lawmakers have passed a state budget that would spend the money on education and law enforcement. The governor has until midnight Tuesday, May 19, to sign or veto the budget. Lawmakers think they have enough votes to override any veto.