SC Senate proposes funding for USC-owned island McMaster vowed to save. Is it enough?
The University of South Carolina-Beaufort would get $500,000 a year to help revive an abandoned USC-owned island under a spending plan approved by the state’s Senate Finance Committee.
In January, leaders at the Beaufort campus asked the state legislature for $1.25 million the school said it needs to get Pritchards Island back to its intended purpose after more than a decade of neglect. On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee approved a budget that would give the school a half-million in recurring funding, which USCB administration said is the “most critical” part of getting the Beaufort County island back on track.
Donated by Philip Rhodes to USC in the 1980s, Pritchards Island was deeded to the then-Carolina Research and Development Foundation for scientific, educational, charitable and general public purposes. However, erosion, lack of staffing and funding caused Pritchards Island to go largely unused by the university for about 13 years.
In June, The State and The Island Packet reported that the Rhodes family said the school wasn’t living up to its agreement. Further, the newspapers reported a stipulation in the deeds that outlined USC could lose the island to the next benefactor — University of Georgia — if it didn’t honor the deeds.
By July, Gov. Henry McMaster called the donor family to say South Carolina would “live up to every single thing” in the agreement to make certain the island stayed in state ownership. In September, USCB administration and faculty shared a detailed plan with the Rhodes family that enthusiastically touched on how the school planned to fulfill the wishes of the decades-old deeds.
The most recent plans for Pritchards range from establishing a summer undergraduate research program to monitoring and characterizing the island’s rich ecology. The 1,600-acre island remains rugged and untouched, and because of that, it serves as a strong comparison to surrounding barrier islands that are highly developed. The juxtapositions are important in understanding erosion, sea level rise and the impacts of climate change.
The price tag to get the ball rolling to reestablish research and programs on Pritchards is $1.25 million, according to the university’s plan.
In December, McMaster did not include special funding for Pritchards Island in his proposed budget. McMaster’s office in response said despite the governor funding the state’s universities a “different way,” it did not take away from him ensuring “the university satisfies its obligation” to fulfill the deeds.
While USC representatives asked the House Ways and Means Committee for $581,000 in recurring funding to pay for docking fees, maintenance and salaries, the Senate Finance Committee allocated $500,000 on Tuesday. The proposed amount also does not account for an additional request of $670,000 for one-time start-up costs.
USCB’s Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Beth Patrick said the $500,000 recurring appropriation is a “tremendous step forward for the project to become a reality.” The money would be strictly used for reviving programming and research specific to Pritchards Island.
Because the funds are proposed to recur, Patrick said, the ongoing financial support of the island would provide “long-term sustainability.”
“We are still hopeful the one-time (start-up request) will get included before the budget is finalized but securing the recurring support is the most critical piece to getting the project started,” Patrick said Wednesday.
The island donor’s granddaughter, Martha Rhodes, said this is a “great start,” however the family hopes the “governor will keep his promise to protect” Pritchards pursuant to the original deeds.
The budget proposal for Pritchards Island still needs approval by the full Senate before it heads to a joint conference committee with the House. The full House and Senate would then have to approve the budget before it is sent to McMaster.
This story was originally published April 6, 2023 at 11:16 AM.
