01/30/2006

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

Legislative Day Nine

Today the Bureau of Information and Telecommunications presented its budget request to the Joint Appropriations Committee. The total budget increased slightly $0.9 million, most of which was for increases in employee salaries. One of the main items budgeted for next year was the planned construction of five additional radio towers to the State network to cope with additional traffic and local usage. Members of the Committee noted that local law enforcement, fire, and E.M.T. traffic accounted for 63% of the total usage of the State Radio Network, and were surprised to find that the State picked up the entire cost.

Following the B.I.T. budget hearing, the House Appropriations Committee briefly heard testimony regarding controversial Senate Bill 27, which would provide an emergency appropriation of $994,000 to the Dept. of Agriculture in order to make intergovernmental reimbursements and honor the three year commitment to support the State Fair made by the legislature. In an effort to better control costs and minimize losses, the Ag Secretary put the State Fair on a line-item budget for the first time ever. The bill ended up passing 6 yea to 2 no, with one absent.

Lastly, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources made its budget presentation. Penny pinchers and bean counters will be pleased to know that, aside from a salary increase, the D.E.N.R. did not request a budget increase. All that in spite of the fact that it has a larger workload, mammoth projects such as the Lewis and Clark Pipeline, and numerous new Federal mandates to comply with. The D.E.N.R. Secretary also touched on the success of the Abandon Tank Program, which safely removes corroded and leaking underground gas tanks from abandon or aging filling stations.

The Bottom Line Is...

B.I.T. - increase of $0.9 million - total of $44.9 million D.E.N.R. - increase of $0.4 million - total of $16.8 million Total for the Day - increase of $1.3 million - total of $61.7 million Total for the Session - increase of $101.7 million - total of $2,442.5 million ----------

Legislative Day Ten

Today the Joint Appropriators received budget reports from the Department of School and Public Lands and the Department of Revenue and Regulation. School and Public Lands budget increased by $0.002 million for a total budget of $0.75 million in FY 2007.

The Department of Revenue and Regulation actually managed to shave $1.7 million of their FY 2006 budget, bringing their FY 2007 down to $55.2 million. One of the department's major projects for the coming year is further development of an online sales tax system.

This afternoon, the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on the State Fair held a preliminary meeting to confer on what information they would need from the Dept. of Agriculture and the LRC to fairly examine the issue... incidentally, Senate Bill 27 (the back fill funding bill for the 2005 State Fair totalling $994,000) passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming majority today.

The Bottom Line Is...

Dept. of Schools and Public Lands - increase of $0.002 million - total of $0.75 million Dept. of Revenue and Regulation - decrease of $1.7 million - total of $55.2 million Total for the Day - decrease of $1.7 million - total of $55.9 million Total for the Session - increase of $156.3 million - total of $2,408.3 million ----------

Legislative Day 11

Today the Appropriations Committees both met briefly to introduce their respective bills. Afterwards, the Joint Committee heard the budget report from the Office of the Governor. The Governor's Office has reduced their budget by $0.6 million from FY 2006 with the transfer of the Science Authority to the Department of Tourism and State Development to a proposed $2.3 million for FY 2007.

The Treasurer's Office reported a very, very slight increase in this year's budget, but it will still remain around $2.8 million. The Office also reported that it was involved with a successful program in the public schools which educates students on the risks of credit cards.

Afterwards, the South Dakota Retirement system for state employees presented their budget. They posted a $0.2 million dollar increase over last year's budget for a total of $3.2 million.

The Department of Military and Veteran's affairs made its budget presentation as well today. They announced that their budget has increased by $5.1 million, for a total of $30.4 million, most of which were federal dollars.

The Bottom Line Is:

Office of the Governor - decrease of $0.6 million - total of $2.3 million Treasurer's Office - increase of $0 - total of $2.8 million South Dakota Retirement System - increase of $0.2 million - total of $3.2 million Department of Military and Veteran's Affairs - increase of $5.1 million - total of $30.4 million Total for the Day - increase of $4.7 million - total of $35.1 million Total for the Session - increase of $160.9 million - total of $2,446.9 million ----------

Legislative Day 12

This morning Appropriations heard from the Department of Public Safety and the Investment Council. The Dept. of Public Safety's budget decreased slightly by 0.1% to $55.5 million for FY 2007. The Department also made numerous improvements over last year. The Highway patrol mandated the quarter of a trooper's time on the highway would be used doing stationary radar scanning or doing paperwork. As a result, they were able to deal with the spike in gas prices. Another program aimed at efficiency was the new "weigh in motion" system, which allows truckers with their paperwork in order to be weighed on the fly at 30 to 35 mph, saving a bunch of time for troopers, carrier enforcement, and especially truckers.

The Department also announced that it was currently in compliance with the Real ID Act, which sets standards for licenses in an effort by the Federal Government to make interstate identification easier in the post 9/11 era. Unfortunately, there is some bad news. The Department projected that it will receive approximately $2 million less in Homeland Security money, because SD does not have any federally designated "urban" areas, which are a protection priority, that meet the Homeland Security definition of the word.

The Investment Council posted an increase of $0.5 million over FY 2006 for a total budget of $6.5 million. State employees will be happy that the various funds all performed very well this year, beating numerous national averages.

The Bottom Line Is...

Dept. of Public Safety - decrease of $0.03 million - total of $55.5 million Investment Council - increase of $0.5 million - total of $6.5 million Total for the Day - increase of $0.47 million - total of $62 million Total for the Session - increase of $222.9 million - total of $2,508.9 million ----------

Legislative Day 13

This morning the Joint Committee broke into its respective House and Senate Committees to hear bills as usual. House Appropriations opened in a jam-packed room full of county commissioners anxious to hear the fate of HB 1040, which increases the per diem dollar amount charged to counties for the admission of patients to the State mental health facilities. In order to learn more on the cost to counties, the bill was deferred.

The House Committee also deferred House Bills 1013, 1019, and 1020. House Appropriations did pass HB 1021, which is an emergency appropriation to pay for costs of November's blizzard, the spring flood of 2004, and a wind storm in 2005. They also passed HB 1089 which allotted money for the building of the State Vietnam War Memorial.

On the Senate side, SB 2, which appropriates money for a much needed new judge in the Minnehaha-Lincoln Circuit, passed unanimously. Also passing unanimously were SB 20, which finances construction of a new dairy plant at SDSU with grants and donations, SB 21, which builds a new federally funded manure handling system at SDSU, along with SB 23, authorizing the building of a new feed storage room at SDSU, and SB 154. SB 88, which offers in-state tuition to Flandreau Indian School students, squeaked by 5-4, along with SB 30, which passed 7-2. Senate Bills 86 and 70 were both killed by being deferred to the 36th legislative day.

The Bottom Line Is...

Total for the Session - increase of $222.9 million - total of $2,508.9 million

*Note* Because no new budget requests were heard from any departments today, only the total for the session is shown.

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