Fiscal Strength

South Dakota’s pretty darn special. What other state has the lowest unemployment rate in America, the 2^nd best overall tax system, the 2^nd least regulations, no income tax, a AAA credit rating, a fully-funded pension, and 136 consecutive years of balanced budgets? Very few states can boast even one such accolade – and no other state can boast all of them together! 

Our state is a model of fiscal strength, and I will keep it that way for as long as I am Governor. 

We just ended another fiscal year when the calendar turned to July, and despite a tighter budget than usual, South Dakota ended the fiscal year in strong shape. All those accolades remain true, and we delivered a $63 million operating surplus, to boot. 

Since we announced our year end surplus, South Dakota has been criticized by some who say that we should have spent more money on this handout or that pet project. But I’m glad we didn’t, and I’ll explain why by digging a bit more into the particulars of the surplus. 

Yes, we finished the year $63 million up – and that was driven in part by state agencies spending $22 million less than what they were budgeted. That’s just good, commonsense decision making from the leaders of our agencies. They didn’t spend more than what they were allocated, and they looked for opportunities to save. If every state and Washington, DC, did business that way, our country would be a lot better off. 

Our revenues also came in $41 million above what was budgeted, but that was driven by unexpected $47 million in additional unclaimed property receipts this spring. Starting this new fiscal year, all such receipts in the future will be put into a new Unclaimed Property Trust Fund, which I signed into law this past session. That’s a complicated way of saying this: we won’t be able to depend on those dollars in the same way going forward. 

We came into this last legislative session knowing that we had a bit of a budget pinch. Then-Governor Noem recommended $80 million in cuts, and I stood by those. The legislature passed $70 million of those cuts but added none of their own. So, we did have to cut to get to where we’re at today. That’s how South Dakota families balance their budgets, and that’s how our leaders do business in Pierre. 

For those who wish that we would’ve spent more, I won’t apologize for making fiscally conservative decisions as your Governor. South Dakota is a leader in disciplined financial management. No other state can boast of all the accolades that I listed earlier, so we shouldn’t start doing business like other states. 

As long as I am your Governor, we will continue to be careful stewards of taxpayer dollars by making wise long-term investments, maintaining conservative fiscal policies, and only spending within our means. I’ll keep making financial decisions the same way going forward – after all, this approach has served South Dakota well for the last 136 years.