Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Walhalla; Senate Finance Chairman Harvey Peeler, R-Gaffney; House Speaker Murrell Smith, R-Sumter; House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister, R-Greenville; and Rep. Leon Howard, D-Columbia, during an Agency Head Salary Commission meeting Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. (Skylar Laird/SC Daily Gazette)
COLUMBIA — Nearly 40 state agency directors and public college presidents in South Carolina received raises Tuesday totaling more than $720,000.
The raises are part of an effort to bring all state agency leaders in line with what other states are paying based on a salary study conducted by a consultant based in Charlotte.
The pay hikes of $9,000 to $64,000 fall in the middle of the ranges the study recommended, said House Speaker Murrell Smith, a Sumter Republican who leads the Agency Head Salary Commission.
