Lawmakers Vote to Approve Revenue Targets for Budgeting

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — The Legislature's budget-writing committee has approved a roughly $1.48 billion general state revenue target to set how much money the state can spend for the upcoming budget year.

The Joint Committee on Appropriations voted Wednesday to approve the target. Lawmakers also set a roughly $1.44 billion revenue target for the current budget year.

Economists are projecting South Dakota will bring in less money than anticipated when the governor prepared his budget in December. But State Economist Jim Terwilliger says he still expects "positive, slow economic growth."

That's in part because sales tax collections have been lower than Gov. Dennis Daugaard's administration had hoped they would be.

Terwilliger says the softening agricultural economy has led to lower spending on farm equipment, which means lower sales tax collections for the state.

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