KOTA Territory NewsRounds says budget cuts are coming

Rounds says budget cuts are coming

Katy Urban

Federal stimulus money saved South Dakota programs from the chopping block last year, but that likely won't be the case this year.

Governor Mike Rounds expects the state's budget problems to get much worse in the next two years, and he says he won't seek a tax increase to cover the shortfall. That leaves two options, dipping into the state's reserves or making budget cuts.

According to Representative David Lust the same programs on the chopping block last year will likely be considered again this year. "The cuts that are going to come are not going to be pleasurable, but its time that they need to be made we need to really examine what is a need versus a want and pair back some of that spending," Lust said.

But District 32 Representative Brian Gosch says lawmakers need to exhaust other options before making cuts. "I think before we talk about cutting there is other things we can look at and that is using money out of these reserve funds, just looking at other sources of revenue," Gosch said.

Despite the grim outlook, Rounds says employment numbers are higher than first projected, so revenue should be better than expected.