State leaders discuss long-term goals with millions from SRS deal

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Aiken, Barnwell, and Allendale counties will get a $343 million investment from the SRS plutonium settlement.

The big question is how the money will be split.

Our state leaders tell us they are thinking long-term with this amount of money heading our way.

Here’s a look at just the five biggest line items.

$30 million: Aiken County Schools new career development center
$25 million: Aiken downtown redevelopment
$20 million: New Savannah River Lock and Dam
$20 million: SRS National Lab at University of South Carolina Aiken
$15 million: Cyber Command Center in North Augusta

Budgeting it all out has been a process two years in the making.

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“They were supposed to move it, and they didn’t. So, they had to pay the price. The settlement was some $600 million to buy them some more time to be able to remove the plutonium,” said Representative Bill Taylor, House District 86.

Taylor says lawmakers at the State House fought to make sure the money stayed close to home, going to the counties that bear the burden of housing the nuclear load.

“We are very pleased that our colleagues, in both the House and the Senate, have designated about 70 percent of all of this settlement money to come right back to the counties involved around SRS and the surrounding counties around that,” he said.

The budget comes with big ideas, including $30 million for a new career development center for Aiken County schools.

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“So, think about that… a $30 million high school for career development sitting at the campus of the technical college. I can’t think of a more beautiful thing to create jobs in the long term,” said Taylor.

And $11.5 million for a new nursing center at Aiken Tech.

“We could be heading for some tough times here, and people are going to be going back to school looking for new vocations, looking for more education. This money will really help all of that,” he said.

Lawmakers hope this one-time source of funding creates change and looks to the future. The final vote for the budget is Wednesday, and then it will head to Governor Henry McMaster’s desk.

“We’re talking a decade, two decades, three decades from now,” said Taylor.

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