Legislature, governor working on state budget data changes

Talk about it

PIERRE — The Legislature’s two committees that focus on state government’s spending are working with top officials from Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s administration to produce what they hope will be more meaningful information about what drives agency budget requests and to agree on indicators that can be used to measure an agency’s performance.

The two branches were represented at an initial sit-down in October and engaged in further discussion Monday during a formal public meeting of the Legislature’s Government Operations and Audit Committee. The plan calls for a three-year development and roll-out.

Currently, the state budget book annually contains data from the two previous fiscal years, the current year that is under way, and for the coming year the agency budget requests and the governor’s recommendations.

The 45-minute discussion Monday came one day before the governor delivers his budget recommendations this afternoon to a joint assembly of the Legislature.

Legislators who serve on the operations and audit committee and the Joint Committee on Appropriations, as well as a variety of other Senate and House members, have been trying for years to better determine whether tax dollars have been budgeted and spent effectively and efficiently.

They don’t think the information that has been presented is sufficient.

“The important thing is we wanted some type of replacement,” said Sen. Jeff Haverly, R-Rapid City, who is retiring from the Legislature after this year. He is chairman of the operations and audit committee. “This is a work in progress,” Haverly said.

The immediate goal is to develop a template that will be reviewed by the full Legislature in January and a trial run with the state Department of Corrections and with State Treasurer Rich Sattgast’s office.

The long-range plan calls for the new process to be applied to a handful of additional agencies during the next year and then be put into effect throughout state government the following year.

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