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Board's financial situation and record keeping.
• After two ranchers said they opposed the fee increase because of discrepancies in reports filed by the Brand Board, Sen. Mike Vehle, R-Mitchell, said he wants officials to develop financial numbers everyone can agree are accurate. Disagreements have festered since the state board took over inspections in 2008 from the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, which previously had conducted the inspections on contract.
• "I just want to put this to rest," Vehle said.
• The Brand Board voted in March to increase the inspection fee to $1, but the panel withdrew that plan when Gov. Dennis Daugaard urged the board to seek a compromise after livestock groups and other agricultural associations objected.

• The board voted in late June to raise the fee to 90 cents after the compromise 10-cent fee increase was supported by the South Dakota Cattlemen's Association, the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association, the South Dakota Farmers Union and the South Dakota Livestock Marketing Association.
• The program inspects the brands on about 1.5 million head of livestock each year when cattle or horses are sold, slaughtered or moved out of the inspection area, which covers all of South Dakota west of the Missouri River. Most of the inspections are at local sale barns, but some are conducted at ranches for private sales or when livestock is shipped elsewhere.
• Larry Stearns, the board's executive director, said the fee increase is needed to cover the rising costs of inspections. Brand inspectors have received the same salary increase given to other state employees and the cost of traveling to inspection sites has risen with higher fuel prices, he said.
• Nathan Sanderson, an adviser to the governor who conducted the compromise talks, said he and representatives of the agricultural groups have gone through the board's budget records in detail. He said he believes the fee increase is justified.
• "I'm absolutely comfortable with where we're at," Sanderson told the legislative committee.
• However, rancher Kenny Fox of Belvidere said he believes the fee increase could be delayed. He said the Brand Board will get more revenue this year because more cattle will be inspected as ranchers sell cattle to cope with a loss of grass caused by drought.
• Fox said Brand Board minutes often do not include much detail on the board's financial situation, and reports issued by the board for different purposes have given differing counts on the number of animals inspected.

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