The Treasurer of the State of South Carolina

April 19, 2011: Our speaker was The Honorable Curtis Loftis, Treasurer of the State of South Carolina. Loftis was born in Columbia and graduated from the University of South Carolina where he served as president of the student senate. After years of work in the business world, he established the Saluda Charitable Foundation, which focuses its giving on the education, nutrition and medical care of children, especially those with disabilities. Saluda has served over 170,000 meals, built a church, renovated schools and hospitals and sponsored medical missions and food pantries.

The State Treasurer’s Office is responsible for the investment, cash management, and safekeeping of the State’s general and restricted funds and a portion of the assets of the South Carolina Retirement Systems. It also provides fiscal management services, including receipt and disbursement of all funds. It coordinates all banking services, manages the State’s debt, and administers and both the unclaimed property and college savings programs. It also works with and communicates regularly with the bond rating services to maintain high credit ratings that keep the state’s borrowing cost low.

While the state is not small it has both urban and rural areas and the treasurer’s office processes 3 million dollars per day. The banking system handles over 30 billion dollars a year and Loftis feels that there must be increased regulation to protect all investors. This is the only state with a Budget Control Board to regulate fiscal issues. Currently, there is a move to create a Department of Administration. He warned that things often happen in the state with little prior warning to the public at large and noted that the next 60 days may bring major changes. He supports transparency and accountability in government and cautioned that all too often, changes happen in “back rooms”.

He is concerned that the public is being short changed by the workers in Columbia who do not work hard enough or long enough each day to accomplish the state’s needs. In his quest for open government he proposes the rule: “see no evil, speak no evil and do no evil”. He expects to release information in the very near future as to agencies or departments that are not measuring up to his standards of performance, accountability, and transparency.

Reported by Fred Sales, Keyway Committee