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01/14/2006

Good Morning Taxpayer - The Tax and Spending (TAS) Report
Legislative Day Three

The Senate Appropriations Committee convened bright and early this morning and briefly heard testimony before it unanimously passed Senate Bill 27, allocating $994 thousand of emergency money to the troubled State Fair, which will extend the Fair's ability to operate thru June 30th of this year.

Right afterwards the Joint Appropriations Committee convened and heard testimony from the Department of Social Services. The Department actually managed to stay at its FTE level (nearly 1,000) from last year, and it managed to combine some of its divisions, making itself more stream-lined and efficient. However, their budget did increase by $8.5 million dollars or 1.2% for a total of $731.9 million. The Food Tax Rebate Program had over $7.2 million in available funds for the over 30,000 households who qualified averaging just over $26.00 per household.

Following the Department of Social Services, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court delivered the Unified Judicial System Budget. A major proposal in the system is the addition of a new Circuit Court Judge for Lincoln and Minnehaha Counties in order to cope with a rise in crime caused by population growth. The cost of creating the new judgeship is over $185,000, along with the creation of necessary staff positions, which cost over $193,000.

The Committee learned that the Secretary of State's Office generated over $4.2 million in revenue from filing fees, yet was only allocated $934,000 in state funds. In their wisdom, the Federal Government provided South Dakota with over $8.5 million to assist with administering elections and to purchase electronic voting machines for all voting precincts. Be sure to check out the new machines when you vote next election.

The Bottom Line Is: -Department of Social Services - increase of $8.5 million - total of $731.9 million. -Unified Judicial System - increase of $1.7 million - total of $36.1 million. -Secretary of State's Office - decrease of $1.9 million - total of $4.4 million. -Total for the Day - increase of $8.3 million - total of $772.4 million. -Total for the Session - increase of $21.6 million - total of - $1,356.7 million.

Specific facts and figures cited in the Good Morning Taxpayer - TAS Report have all been obtained through the official Legislative website, http://legis.state.sd.us and by attendance at the daily committee meetings.