(Pierre, SD) — South Dakota ends its fiscal year with a 63-million-dollar budget surplus. Governor Larry Rhoden says the state moved 63 million dollars in surplus money, plus another 106 million earmarked for a new prison, into its emergency reserves. That brings the state’s total reserves to nearly 492 million dollars. The shift comes as the new fiscal year begins and follows a drop in sales tax revenue. Lawmakers will still need a two-thirds vote to unlock the prison funding, and the 63-million-dollar transfer is the smallest in four years. Rhoden says the state will keep its focus on conservative spending and smart investments.
