South Carolina “Republicans” led by Brian White – the top budget writer in the S.C. House of Representatives – are secretly plotting to eliminate the state’s local government fund so that they can spend this revenue at the state level.

Multiple sources familiar with the fiscal maneuvering tell FITS the local government line item – which totaled $229 million in the current (FY 2014-15) budget – was put on the chopping block by White at a recent meeting of “Republican” lawmakers in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

“We have forty-six counties and umpteen city governments,” one lawmaker familiar with the discussions tells FITS.  ”You know the saying – a million here, a million there.  That’s why (the fund) needs to end.”

Yet while some claim the $229 million will be appropriated toward “tax relief,” it’s far more likely the revenue will wind up being dumped into the same bloated bureaucracies, needless programs and politically motivated, pork barrel projects lawmakers always seem to have enough money to fund.