Tuesday,  November 27, 2012 • Vol. 13--No. 132 • 22 of 39 •  Other Editions

(Continued from page 21)

said the state can afford to increase spending after cutting spending last year in line with ongoing revenue to avoid using reserves.
• "Some of our revenue streams are a little bit volatile and hard to predict where they're going to be," the governor said. "We need to be conservative and assume we aren't going to have the revenue because you don't want to spend money you're not sure you're going to get."
• School districts would see an increase in money under a state law that says aid will increase by the rate of inflation up to a maximum of 3 percent, Daugaard said. He also said he'll propose more funding for Medicaid providers and a pay raise for state workers along the same lines.
• Daugaard said the state will get some one-time money next year because of some bank mergers resulting from a federal law and a change in South Dakota's unclaimed property laws.
• Banks used to give the state unclaimed deposits after five years when owners could not be located, but a new South Dakota law shortened that to three years. So, next fiscal year, the state will see three years' worth of unclaimed money.
• The governor has an idea of how to spend some of the one-time money, including shoring up a retirement system for former employees of the state's Rapid City cement plant, which was sold in 2001. The system isn't fully funded, so it can't cover all payments due in future years.
• The governor also said he'll listen to proposals from state lawmakers.
• Senate Republican Leader Russell Olson of Wentworth told The Associated Press that school districts and Medicaid providers prefer dedicated long-term funding that's available year after year, but they may be happy to receive some extra one-time funding. He said he'll talk with school officials and health care representatives to get their views.
• "You get mixed signals from those folks. Some say they don't want one-time money and others say: 'Hey, one-time money is great, bring it by the truckload,' " said Olson, who set up Monday's meeting with Daugaard.
• The current state budget authorizes spending $4 billion in the fiscal year that ends June 30, and about $1.2 billion is from general state funds. It also authorizes spending another $1.75 billion in federal funds and $1 billion in other state funds dedicated to specific purposes, such as highway construction and maintenance.
• State officials report that through September, general state revenue for the first three months for the current budget year was up 1.6 percent from what the Legislature expected.
• House Assistant Republican Leader Justin Cronin of Gettysburg said the task of

(Continued on page 23)

© 2012 Groton Daily Independent • To send correspondence, click here.