South Carolina lawmakers tried to vote themselves a $12,000 a year raise but Governor Nikki Haley stopped the move in its tracks.

Gov. Nikki Haley on Thursday vetoed $12,000-a-year pay raises that legislators voted to give themselves.

That veto was among 76, cutting $18.5 million from the $7 billion general fund budget that the General Assembly approved for the fiscal year starting July 1, issued by Haley.

Haley vetoed the measure because she had already warned lawmakers not to sneak the pay raise into the budget, but to allow voters to decide.

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“I don’t fault legislators for wanting a pay raise,” Haley said. “I fault the way that this was done.”

Haley said she told lawmakers throughout the budget process that she would veto the pay raise. Haley, a former state representative, said any raise for lawmakers should be decided by voters in a referendum.

“In a budget that gives state employees a 2% raise, the General Assembly has decided to raise its own pay by $12,000. I don’t believe this is appropriate, nor do I believe the public will see it as an acceptable expenditure of taxpayer dollars.”

The per capital income for a South Carolina resident is just under $24,000.