PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has used her budget address to state lawmakers to defend her coronavirus response.
She cast the state’s financial outlook on a national scale and laid out proposals to spend millions in excess funds from federal coronavirus aid bolstering the state’s budget.
While South Dakota is currently suffering through one of the worst virus outbreaks in the nation, the state’s economy and budget forecast are significantly rosier.
A combination of using federal aid to offset state expenses tied to the pandemic and a $19 million budget surplus allows Noem to propose over $230 million in state-funded projects.