Greenwood Index-Journal
September 30, 2019
Upstate economy focus of Monday listening tour
By ADAM BENSON abenson@indexjournal.com
Five counties — Anderson, Greenville, Laurens, Pickens and Spartanburg — expect to see their ranks swell from 1.2 million people to 1.6 million by 2040.
“That means we have a lot of challenges we’re going to have to work through,” Jason Zacher, executive director of the Upstate Chamber Coalition, said Monday during a listening tour at Lee’s Barbecue in Waterloo.
Divesting South Carolina of the scandal-plagued utility (Santee Cooper), Zacher said, is in the best interests of all.
“We’ve supported the sale of Santee Cooper because of the potential statewide budget impact. If we end up having to absorb the debt that Santee Cooper has, that is debt service that cannot be used for higher teacher bay, it cannot be used for infrastructure, it cannot be used for name your program that needs to be funded.”