SOUTH DAKOTA ENDS FISCAL YEAR WITH $63 MILLION OPERATING SURPLUS
PIERRE, S.D. (J.P. Skelley / KORN News) – The state of South Dakota closed the state fiscal year 2025 budget year with an operating surplus of $63 million.
“South Dakota is a leader in our nation – especially when it comes to disciplined financial management,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “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.”
The surplus included $41 million in excess revenues and $22 million in spending below what was budgeted.
The Bureau of Finance and Management also published “South Dakota: A Model of Fiscal Strength,” a document highlighting South Dakota’s accomplishments as one of the best financially managed states.
“South Dakota’s disciplined financial management, low debt levels, conservative budgeting practices, AAA credit rating, and fully funded pension system helped achieve our distinction as a leader in fiscal strength,” said BFM Commissioner Jim Terwilliger. “This document puts all these accomplishments and more in one convenient place.”
Unforeseen unclaimed property receipts were the biggest driver of excess revenues; the state received more than $47 million in unexpected unclaimed property receipts since the 2025 legislative session. Beginning in FY2026, such windfalls will be dedicated to a trust fund via SB 155, which Governor Rhoden signed into law.
South Dakota’s largest revenue source, the state sales tax, finished the year $3.7 million lower than recent estimates and 0.6% lower than collections from the previous year.
During the 2025 legislative session, Governor Rhoden and legislative leadership agreed to keep $106 million left unspent on the bottom line to help cover the costs of a future prison. Between the $63 million surplus and the $106 million left unspent by the Legislature, $169 million will flow to the state’s two primary reserve funds under state law.
The state’s reserve funds now total $492 million or 19.9% of the FY2026 budget.
RURAL STATE REPUBLICANS, INCLUDIGN SOUTH DAKOTA’S MIKE ROUNDS, PUSH BACK ON DEFUNDING PUBLIC MEDIA
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Inside Audio Marketing) – This will be a critical week for public media funding, with the Senate expected to vote on a package of $9.4 billion in funding already appropriated by Congress that President Trump wants to rescind. It includes a rollback of nearly $1.1 billion in previously allocated funds to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), the nonprofit organization that distributes federal funding to PBS, NPR and local public media stations.
On Capitol Hill, there is a growing effort to find a way to keep the public media funding intact — especially among lawmakers from more rural states where public radio stations are often the only news outlet since there aren’t enough advertising dollars to support a commercial outlet.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) told Scripps News that it is likely the Senate will make amendments. “One talk is to separate NPR and PBS and looking at those different,” he said, explaining they are looking at how funding could still go to local stations, but not the national networks “to make sure the local isn’t hurt.”
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) has also come out in favor of maintaining federal dollars to help local stations in his state — especially the public radio system set up by Native American tribes, which get the vast majority of their funding from CPB grants.
“This is their way of getting emergency messages out to people. It’s the way in which they communicate in a very rural area,” Rounds told reporters last week. “What we’re trying to do is to work with [the Office of Management and Budget] to find a path forward where the funding for those radio stations would be left alone.”
Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Shelly Moore Capito (R-WV) have expressed similar concerns, according to CBS News. Like several other Republicans, they are looking for ways to ensure funding dollars can still flow to local stations but not support the national NPR or PBS networks. They concede, however, that a lot of details of how that could be achieved are yet to be worked out.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has also said that some public radio stations in Alaska get up to 70% of their annual budgets from the government, telling OMB Director Russell Vought in a hearing last month that the stations play a critical role in emergency alert distribution while also offering “vital community connections” in rural areas.
“There is no safety valve for them,” Murkowski said. “In many parts of rural America, this is their lifeline. This is where they get the updates on that landslide, this is where they get the updates on the wildfires that are coming their way. And so, how they will be able to not only get the emergency alerts that they need, but also the weather reporting to make sure that that fisherman out in Unalaska can go out safely, so that these communities can be connected when the deadly landslide has come through.”
Vought defended the proposed claw back of CPB dollars, however. “For decades, we’ve had concerns with the extent to which CPB was funding content that was run contrary to the American people, and we’ve got to get to the point where we can finally deal with that,” he said.
The House approved a package last month, and Trump is working to convince any on-the-fence Senators to go along with his package of rescissions, which will expire July 18 if Congress doesn’t act.
“It is very important that all Republicans adhere to my Recissions Bill [sic.] and, in particular, defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (PBS and NPR), which is worse than CNN and MSNBC put together,” he wrote in a social media post last week. The message came with a threat to wavering lawmakers. “Any Republican that votes to allow this monstrosity to continue broadcasting will not have my support or endorsement,” Trump wrote.
Not all Republicans are onboard rescuing public media funding. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), who has introduced a bill to cut off federal dollars from NPR or PBS, has said deficit realities remain.
“Let’s cut to the chase — public broadcasting in America today is political as hell,” he said during a hearing last month. “Some folks like their politics, so they want to give them money. Some folks don’t like their politics, and they want to take it away. But real principle is, why are we giving money to public broadcasting when we’re $36 trillion in the hole?”
As debate about rescissions begins this week, supporters of public media funding will keep a close eye on Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), who has been an outspoken critic of the proposed CPB cuts. She is said to be considering an amendment that would restore the funding.
FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE CALLS NOEM THE “ANTITHESIS OF THE SOUTH DAKOTA I KNOW”
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (John Hult / South Dakota Searchlight) – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz regaled about a thousand people at a South Dakota Democratic Party fundraiser Saturday night with jabs at the state’s former and current governors, advice for winning back rural voters and blue collar workers, and pride in liberal ideals.
The 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee — who was on the losing ticket with presidential nominee Kamala Harris — delivered the keynote speech to a sellout crowd at the 2025 McGovern Day dinner at the Sioux Falls Convention Center. Reporters were allowed into the event, but not to take photographs once it started.
It didn’t take long for Walz to criticize the actions of U.S. Homeland Security secretary and Republican former South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
“If you had to pick somebody who’s the antithesis of the South Dakota I know, it would be that,” he said.
The two served in Congress, cosponsoring bills together before 2018, when each was elected to lead their respective states.
Their relationship soured during the COVID-19 pandemic when they took divergent approaches, and further deteriorated when Noem described Walz as a “radical” in her role as a Trump surrogate during last year’s presidential campaign.
Walz, speaking of his preparation to appear in South Dakota, said “I had to decide what I was going to wear.”
“When you’re a governor and you’re in South Dakota, do you dress as a fireman? You dress as a cowgirl?” he said.
The joke was a dig at Noem. She donned firefighting gear at a U.S. Coast Guard training facility, for example, and wore a cowboy hat for an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I know it’s petty, but some people just bring out the petty,” Walz said.
Advice for SD Democrats
He laid out his connections to South Dakota once the laughter died down. He grew up nearby in Nebraska. He hunted pheasants in Winner, saw drive-in movies in Lake Andes and “spent too much time” at a bar called the Longbranch in Burke.
Walz also prodded current South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden, who recently signed a bill that will allow the concealed carry of pistols on college campuses by gun owners with enhanced permits. Walz described that as one of the Republican talking points about South Dakota being “the freest state in the nation.”
“I think some of you may have a difference of opinion in that. I ran into an OB-GYN that says that’s not true,” Walz said, referencing South Dakota’s near-total abortion ban.
Walz told Democrats that Republicans who paint them as “elites” are cutting taxes for the wealthy and reducing support for student aid programs and Medicaid while “tearing apart” rural communities and mass-detaining undocumented immigrants.
“Is our immigration system broken? Yes. But our moral system sure as hell should not be with throwing people in camps,” he said, a reference to a detention center for migrants in the Florida Everglades that President Trump calls “Alligator Alcatraz.”
“The people building prison camps are never the good guys in history,” Walz said.
He urged Democrats to work on issues of importance to rural and working class South Dakotans, like Medicaid and Medicare, and to work with labor unions.
“There’s a direct correlation between the strength of the middle class and economic security with the number of people who are in labor unions,” he said.
He also suggested the national Democratic Party should pay more attention to places like South Dakota if it expects to build a coalition durable enough to compete outside of its traditional strongholds and battleground states. “A few million dollars” could make a difference and help South Dakota build the Democratic bench, he said.
“I hear people say ‘there are no Democrats in South Dakota,’” Walz said. “But there’s a hell of a lot in this room.”
Party expects more candidates in 2026
The McGovern Day dinner is the state party’s largest annual fundraiser. Regular tickets cost $125. Meet-and-greet tickets cost twice that.
“We haven’t had a McGovern Day dinner this big at least since I’ve been around,” said Shane Merrill, chair of the state party.
The party leaned into Walz’s fame for more than ticket sales. Vermillion brewery XIX whipped up a batch of “Walz on Tap” blonde ale, sold by the can at cocktail stations and by the four-pack in a silent auction.
The enthusiasm was tempered by reality. South Dakotans registered as independents or without any political affiliation outnumber Democrats. Republicans have the most registrants and hold every statewide office, all three of the state’s congressional seats, and all but nine of the seats in the 105-member Legislature.
Democrats have faced criticism during recent South Dakota election cycles for not fielding candidates, sometimes for offices as high as Congress. Before the speeches started Saturday, state party Executive Director Dan Ahlers said that won’t be a problem in 2026.
“I need two of me to interview all the people who want to run,” he said.
The party already has candidates for U.S. Senate (Julian Beaudion), secretary of state (Terrence Davis) and U.S. representative, although Ahlers said that candidate won’t announce until the fall. Nineteen-year-old Robert Arnold has announced his candidacy for governor, and Ahlers said he expects another hopeful to announce for that race, as well.
Later, speaking from the stage, Ahlers declared “we can no longer be content with a few seats at the table. We need to run the table.”
“It shouldn’t be enough to field a good Democratic candidate,” he said. “We need to elect Democratic candidates.”
State Sen. Liz Larson, D-Sioux Falls, said she’s proud to have been the first female state Senate minority leader, but told the audience that it took time to get there. She lost in her first run for office in 2020, but “knocked on thousands of doors” and won on her second and third go-rounds.
Democrats believe, she said, “that you’re no better than anybody else, and we’re all in this together.”
“That is a politics worth showing up for,” Larson said.
SIOUX CITY CITY COUNCIL APPROVES OVER $360,000 TO AID HOMELESS POPULATION
SIOUX CITY (KTIV) – Sioux City’s city council has chosen to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars to help the local homeless population.
Monday night, the city council voted to accept over $360,000 in federal funding to address the issue of homelessness in Sioux City.
The city council voted to accept a grant of $125,000 to fund “The Warming Shelter”.
That money will come from the city’s share of a state Coronavirus relief block grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Also, city leaders voted to accept about $197,000 in Continuum of Care Coordinated Entry grant funding.
The city council also voted to accept a grant of about $45,000 dollars from the Homeless Management Information System grant program.
Mayor Bob Scott says this is a continuation of the city’s efforts to address the issue of homelessness in the community.
“We have a lot of people in the city government that are working on homeless issues. And, those funds will supplement what they’re doing,” said Scott.
The mayor says these funds were allocated by the state because “The Warming Shelter” is in place.
“The Warming Shelter” provides a temporary emergency shelter for people experiencing homelessness in Sioux City.
