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Why was the $19M proposed for Columbia convention center expansion cut in half?
By Joseph BustosJune 25, 2021 06:15 AM
The Columbia Convention Center stood to get $19 million in this year’s state budget for expansion, but only received $9 million.
The Columbia Convention Center stood to get $19 million in this year’s state budget for expansion, but only received $9 million.
COLUMBIA, S.C.
When the South Carolina House of Representatives passed its second version of the 2021-22 budget on June 9, it included millions of dollars to help build a new cultural arts center in Greenville, a convention center in Lexington County and money for a renovation of the Sumter Opera House.
But when it came to funding for a planned Columbia Convention Center expansion, House members included only $1 for the project — much different from the $19 million the Senate proposed in its budget that was passed in April. Even the governor suggested $15 million be included in the state budget for the project.
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Ultimately a budget conference committee, which was able to choose a funding amount between the House and Senate versions, settled on $9 million to help the capital city’s convention center carry out an estimated $75 million expansion.
The smaller earmark ultimately was the product of whether there was enough lobbying done to convince other lawmakers to come on board, as well as the initial sponsorship by a lawmaker who has been critical of the level of transparency in the earmark process.
In the state budget process, lawmakers can direct money, known as earmarks, to projects in their districts without going through a traditional competitive grant process.
Having only $9 million allocated for the project from the state upset Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin, who is touting the potential economic impact of the project, which would include corresponding private investment for surrounding hotels.
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Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin. File photo.
Benjamin blamed state Rep. Kirkman Finlay, R-Richland, for the allocation being cut. Finlay fired back saying the city had poor lobbying efforts when pushing for the earmark.
The two men ran against each other for mayor in 2010 when Benjamin was first elected. The two do not have any professional relationship with the mayor saying they haven’t spoken to each other since the April 2010 election.
“The reason ours was cut was due to the aggressive lobbying of Kirkman Finlay to zero out the budget to completely defund the effort to build this convention center, which I find wholly irresponsible and detrimental to the economic fortunes of the Midlands,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin pointed to how Greenville received $19 million for its cultural arts center, the Sumter Opera House received $15 million and Spartanburg received $12 million for downtown infrastructure projects. Each of those projects had sponsors in each legislative chamber.
Finlay
Expanding the convention center has been a project elected leaders have been working on since 2019.
Finlay said he couldn’t support the project this year because he didn’t have enough information about it. Lobbyists traditionally will speak to lawmakers and even provide information about initiatives pushed by interest groups at the State House.
“It’s hard for me to support a project with this little data, with this little projections that have been presented to anybody,” Finlay said.
“How this enhances the city, what it does, how does it work?” Finlay added. “We’ve got a Bull Street that has struggled. This convention center, by their own admissions, is struggling. Baseball has not been the winner, (in the) pandemic. Perhaps we should all approach projects with state money with a little more caution and care.”
When the House Ways and Means Committee released its 2021-22 budget, no one in the House signed on to sponsor the multi-million earmark, including Finlay and House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, both of whom serve on the budget-writing committee and live in Columbia.
Rutherford declined to comment for this story.
Late lobbying effort
The day the House passed its version of a 2021-22 spending plan, which included only $1 for the Columbia Convention Center, state Rep. Beth Bernstein, D-Richland, distributed a copy of a presentation to House members touting the project, along with the public and private investment that is planned.
The presentation included estimates the project could bring in $7.1 billion in economic impact to the city over 30 years.
“I felt it was really important for the House members to really make sure that the conferees knew this was a project we wanted,” Bernstein said.
“I think it’s a travesty we weren’t allocated the full $19 million and it’s unfortunate that it was because of some members in this delegation,” Bernstein said.
Bernstein said Benjamin has reached out and met with members of the Richland County legislative delegation over the last couple of years to improve communication.
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Craft vendors show their wares at Crafty Feast at the Columbia Convention Center. Maria LaRocca Special to The State
“I’m not really sure when we’re allocating money to a convention center for its expansion when its clearly subpar how much data you really need,” Bernstein said.
State Rep. Seth Rose, D-Richland, said the mayor and members of the City Council reached out to him about the need for expansion, but he did not have any interactions with lobbyists about the project. He added he didn’t need too much convincing.
“One, this is the capital city and there’s a huge need,” Rose said. “Two, it’s not as if you’re saving money by cutting it out of the budget. It’s actually just being sent to another part of the state.”
But Finlay said the city’s efforts were non-existent.
“I do not understand the city’s concern, Mayor Benjamin specifically,” Finlay said. “They got $9 million in one of the most inept and inefficient lobbying efforts I’ve ever seen. They should be happy. I mean most people are happy when they get $9 million.”
“Their inaction over the last two weeks of the budget process cost them, and they’re mad at me,” Finlay said. “They need to look inward, not outward.”
Who would get credit?
When the Senate first approved its version of the 2021-22 spending plan, the Columbia Convention Center was in line to receive a $19 million earmark, which was being sponsored by state Sens. Darrell Jackson and Dick Harpootlian, both Richland County Democrats.
Jackson, who has worked on the project for a couple of years, said he was disappointed the project didn’t receive more money this go-around.
“It’s really unfortunate that we did not get the $19 million ... (but) $9 million is better than nothing,” Jackson said.
However, Jackson would not comment on the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that led to the reduced allocation.
Harpootlian over recent years has raised concerns over earmarks rolled up into single line items in the budget, saying the process isn’t transparent, pushing for increased attention to the process, even making public records requests to find out who had requested funding for projects before turning over records to the media.
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The South Carolina Democratic Convention. was held at the Columbia Convention Center in Columbia, SC and was attended by 19 of the 23 candidates.
Harpootlian added his name as a sponsor during this spring’s budget deliberations. He said he initially helped push for the convention center earmark because he thought it was a worthwhile project.
“This is not pork barrel,” Harpootlian said. “This is about expanding the convention center so we can get conventions here that Greenville and Charleston get because they have bigger and better-furnished convention centers.”
“It made sense. I knew we were going to have one-time money and I knew Greenville had gotten a huge amount of money the year before and they got it again this year,” Harpootlian added.
But Harpootlian’s sponsorship of the project allowing him to potentially receive credit irked some members of the Richland County delegation, he said.
Harpootlian agreed to take his name off a week before the conference committee met to finalize the state budget.
“I was informed by some of the folks involved in the conference committee process that some of the Richland County House members would not support any money for it if my name was associated with it, which I thought was petty, I thought was juvenile,” Harpootlian said.
“But it was more important to get the money than for me to get the credit.”
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