The Bureau of Finance Management reported a strong fiscal year for South Dakota.
The department responsible for tracking the state’s finances produced a report outlining what they said shows a solid fiscal year.
Jim Terwilliger is the Commissioner of the South Dakota Bureau of Finance and Management. He said via email correspondence that the strong year-end report is due to the state spending less than it received.
He said the state’s revenues for the year sit around $6.5 billion dollars with expenses of $5.7 billion.
Terwilliger said the excess revenues is what helps pay for care for the elderly, education for the young, and infrastructure projects throughout the state.
One infrastructure project that has drawn criticism from landowner organizations is the potential new men’s state prison planned for Lincoln County. Terwilliger said the state created an Incarceration Construction Fund in 2022
"Senate Bill 144 of the 2022 SD Legislative session created the Incarceration Construction Fund to help fund the construction of the new women’s prison in the Rapid City area and future men’s prison in the Sioux Falls area. Funding these projects with available cash instead of borrowing the money by issuing new bonds will save the taxpayers of South Dakota hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and interest costs over the long-run," said Terwilliger.
Currently, the state’s incarceration construction fund has a balance of just over $300 million dollars.
As a part of the report, Terwilliger outlined the state’s AAA credit rating.
"The state’s issuer credit rating is a measure of the overall creditworthiness of the state. The AAA rating for South Dakota by the credit rating agencies - Standard and Poor’s, Fitch Rating Services, and Moody’s Investors Services - is the highest possible rating that can be assigned. It shows the highest degree of creditworthiness indicating the state can meet its financial commitments," said Terwilliger.
He said this top rating results in the state paying lower interest rates on current and future debts.
