By Scott Miller
Staff Writer

Gov. Mark Sanford unveiled a $6.8 billion spending plan Monday that would cut overall state spending from this year’s budget by $326 million or 4.6%.

The 345-page document includes spending increases for education, health care, public safety and conservation, among other areas.

The governor wants to cut state spending by consolidating state agencies, boards and commissions.

“We’ve said for the past four years that you can’t grow government faster than the underlying economy, and that’s why we needed to limit spending when times were good,” Sanford said Monday in a statement. “Now we’re seeing the effects of that overspending, and as a result some tough choices are going to have to be made this year with regard to the state budget.”

In a letter posted on his Web site, www.scgovernor.com, Sanford said the state has outspent itself in recent years of fiscal prosperity, increasing expenditures by 43% during the last three years.

He called on lawmakers to reduce duplicative government, citing the state’s above-average ratio of state employees to residents.

His fiscal 2008-’09 budget includes several calls for spending reform, including a cap on state spending at the rate of inflation plus the rate of population growth and a limit on the use of one-time revenues to cover ongoing expenses. That limit would be equal to 1% of state revenues.

The governor also wants a law to increase transparency in state spending by creating a searchable online database of state expenditures.

Among Sanford’s proposals that have already been released include one to raise the state’s tax on cigarettes from seven cents a pack to 37 cents to offset revenue losses from an optional income tax cut. Sanford’s tax proposal calls for a flat rate of 7%, the current level, with an optional 50% cut for those who forego deductions.

The General Assembly reconvenes Tuesday in Columbia to take on the budget and other hot-button issues such as immigration reform.