A few weeks ago, the state’s Board of Economic Advisors (BEA) met to review the state’s revenue collections and to issue the first revenue forecast for FY2026-27. Thanks to stronger-than-expected individual income tax and sales tax collections, state revenues are $244 million ahead of May projections.

As a result, the BEA estimated that General Fund revenues will total just over $15 billion for FY2026-27, giving lawmakers an additional $733.9 million in recurring revenue and $1.71 billion in non-recurring revenue to appropriate in this year’s budget process.

Governor Henry McMaster will utilize this estimate for his FY2026-27 Executive Budget, which will be released in early January. All state agencies recently submitted their FY2026-27 budget requests for consideration, which can be found here.

The Chamber will again host the Women In Commerce Social at Seminar Brewing on Thursday, February 5th from 5:30pm – 7:00pm.

It’s time to put on your dancing shoes to slide, shuffle and sip with your gal pals.  Learn some new moves and make some new professional connections.

While attendance is free, space is limited and reservations are required. This event is made possible by Duke Energy.

To register, click here.

The Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce invites you to attend the 2025 Florence Christmas Parade! The parade is scheduled for this Saturday, December 13th at 11:00am. The parade will begin near the intersection of Sunset Drive and Evans Street and will continue down Evans toward Dargan Street. Performances will be judged in front of the Florence City Center.

Octavia Williams-Blake and Charity Gerald of McLeod Health, were the Florence Chamber’s guests this past weekend talking about McLeod Workforce Development, as well as their partnership with Florence 1 Schools’ Poynor Healthcare & Innovation Center. These are innovative programs developed to strengthen the long-term growth and sustainability of healthcare services within the community.

We encourage you to tune-in every Sunday from 12:00-12:30pm on LIVE 95.3FM in Florence, SC.

This program is brought to you by the Greater Florence Chamber of Commerce.

Looking for past ChamberLink Radio Show interviews? Click here:

https://www.flochamber.com/events-programs/podcasts/

The stakes for small businesses are higher than ever this holiday shopping season. Many have faced increased operating costs, supply chain disruptions and overall market uncertainty. A small business can lack the financial resources and operational flexibility to easily absorb increased costs. Yet they are the backbone of our communities.

Locally owned small businesses recirculate a far greater percentage of revenue locally compared to absentee-owned businesses, according to the American Independent Business Alliance. Independent stores return about 48 percent of their revenues back into the local economy, compared to 14 percent returned to the local economy by chain operations.

So don’t forget to include our area’s small, local businesses in your holiday shopping season.