The Joint Appropriations Committee has determined how much money the state has to work with for the rest of this fiscal year and for Fiscal Year 14, which starts July 1.
On Tuesday the committee looked at projections by both the Bureau of Finance Management and the Legislative Research Council, whose numbers don’t depart by much. However, in one line for next year, the two departments’ estimates are more than $1 million apart.
The committee accepted LRC’s lower figure.
Senator Billie Sutton says he would prefer a compromise on that number.
“For the record, I would have liked to see us go a different route regarding the property tax reduction, which is mainly funded by video lottery,” he says. “I think we’re taking a little too conservative a number there, and it would have been nice to come to the middle on this one a little bit, as South Dakota typically does.”
The state has more than $1.3 billion to budget for next year, with another $16 million possible if a bank franchise tax issue can be resolved.