State Budgets: South Dakota Draws Down Reserves, Cuts Spending Increase

Gov. Mike Rounds (R) plans to draw down $26 million in reserve funds to balance this year’s budget and $32 million to balance the $3.7 billion 2010 budget, leaving just $4.5 million in the reserve fund. Pay raises will be cut to 1.5% (as opposed to 3%), and unnecessary travel curtailed (including Rounds’s own trip to President Obama’s inauguration). The budget also includes a $6.3 million property tax increase, increased Medicaid spending, and the expectation that South Dakota will be hurt less by the recession than other states.

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