Mike Rounds gets out the crayons
l3wis 
State Legislature
Less talk and more action
Rounds hard at work fixing another dilemma
I guess the recession came out of nowhere, according to Rounds;
Like the rest of the nation, South Dakota is in a recession. Governor Mike Rounds says the dramatic drop in state revenue linked to sales tax is unlike anything he’s ever witnessed. He says this current recession is the largest since the great depression.
This has been taking shape for over 13 months, and when a entire country, heck even world, go into a global tailspin, you take action, fast. Nope, not Mike’s style. Let’s wait until the entire bottom drops out before we take action. When would have been a good time? Well if I was Mike I would have started making cuts this summer when gas prices went through the roof. I think if the governor would have at least made an attempt to cut back across the board 7-8 months ago we wouldn’t be in such a pickle right now.
It tells me something I have known about Mike, for a very long time;
He is an incompetent leader that is more concerned about paying back his contributors in no-bid contracts than helping the hardworking citizens of this state. It think it is grounds for impeachment leaving the taxpayers of this state holding the (empty) bag. Sad. Very sad.
“It doesn’t mean that we’re done. Next year, this same legislative body will be back here for our budget proposal for the next year which is 2011. It’s not that far away. They will begin with a structural deficit of $30 million,” the governor said.
And now I am wondering when Mayor Munson is going to wakeup from his deep sleep and take action. It’s no secret a big chunk of that budget comes from Sioux Falls so what is Northside Davey gonna do? Keep borrowing and spending on projects that are either unneeded or would have been paid for by the Feds? It seems Dave would prefer to hand his financial irresponsibility and massive debt service over to the next mayor and council.
Big government Republicans – scary stuff.
SD is the Rushmore state . . . but what does that mean? We better advertise and let the rest of the country know.
I’m sure you noticed that Rounds didn’t make one single cut to tourism in his budget. His argument is tourism brings in $26 million to the state (I would like to know whose ass he pulled that number out of). For the sake of the argument, let’s suppose that’s true, but who’s to say if we cut the tourism budget or even did no advertising at all except on inexpensive websites, people wouldn’t come to visit our state anyway? I mean, how many people who take summer vacations don’t know where Mt. Rushmore is? If they don’t know, they don’t deserve to visit anyway.
Bickering? More like cussing and swearing!
Mike acts like he is the headmaster and the legislature is the students in detention;
“I feel good about having a legislative body that I think will want to work together to get things done,’ Rounds said. “I’m sure there will be some bickering.”
If I was them, I would throw your Shit Sandwich budget back in your face.
How about cutting some no-bid contracts Mikey?
Not all of Mike Rounds cuts are a bad idea (though most of them are). The biggest disappointment is that he has cut only one FTE (and it was a good program). I broke down how I feel about them;
GOOD CUTS
– Catastrophic Correctional Health Care, $800,000.
Not sure how you budget for catastrophic health care. I feel this is a good cut because it should be paid for on a case by case basis.
– Archeological Research Center Program, $308,782.
Though I’m all for science funding, I think during a recession this is a reasonable cut.
– BOR new accounting staff, $213,141.
No new staff should be added during this time.
– DOC food service reduction, $200,000.
This one is confusing. My question is; we’re we paying too much for this service that now we can make a cut? I think this service is a contract. Maybe this should have been cut a long time ago.
ON THE FENCE
– State Fair, $774,643.
I do think we need to fund the fair, but we shouldn’t continue to give them money without accountability. I think the fair should rotate to different towns every year and have the cities hosting it help come up with funding.
– Division of Arts, $668,509.
If this money is coming out of public education arts programs, that’s bad. If this cut will affect grants, etc, it’s a good cut. One thing I have noticed about the SDAC is that they continue to give to same old people, year after year, who can’t make a living on their own as an artist. There is also a lot of favoritism. For instance, one year an individual performer got a grant, he was the husband of the former SDAC director and another year the SD Symphony received a $35,000 grant even though they were operating in the black without the assistance.
– HPV vaccination program, $276,995.
I think this vaccination is important, but I also think this could be paid for through federal funds. I also think this is something insurance companies should cover as preventative. It might also be a good will gesture if our monster hospital industrial complexes provided this vaccination for free to people who could not afford it.
– FTE for REED Data Center, $155,359.
This fiber optic network is needed, but this project can be put on hold.
– Adult Medicaid dental services, $1,485,987.
I would like to see the specifics on this.
– SDPB tower maintenance, $230,000.
This is similar to the REED project.
– Human Services base cuts, $800,000.
If this department can still survive after taking the cut, it’s a good idea. Unfortunately, there should have been cuts like this TO every bureaucratic department to make it fair and across the board.
– DSS Independent Living Services, $222,000.
Foster care in SD has often been a contentious subject. If this program works, keep the dough, if not, cut it.
BAD CUTS
State Workers
– State Employee Compensation, $6,728,980.
– Discretionary Provider Inflation, $5,510,508.
Not sure how the state can make these cuts? I guess the employees will have to pickup the slack.
Education
– Teacher Compensation Assistance Program, $4 million.
– Education Service Agencies, $2.2 million.
– South Dakota School for the Deaf, $2 million.
– Special education, $1,632,256.
– Career and Technical Education funding, $1.5 million.
– BOR Institutional Reductions, $500,000.
– Alternative Education Program, $450,000.
– State Aid to Technology Increase, $309,226.
– Birth to Three Connections, $2,130,170.
It’s no secret that Rounds is anti-education. Education should always be the LAST thing you cut during poor economic times. He just doesn’t get it, once again. Must of been his poor education.
Corrections
– DOC Adult Education Program, $210,789.
– DOC Community Transition Fee, $200,750.
Educating prisoners helps them become better adjusted when they get out of prison. By cutting these programs we are just setting them up to be repeat offenders costing us more in the long run in incarceration costs. This cut is just plain stupid.
Infrastructure
– Bureau of Administration Base Maintenance & Repair Funding, $2,451,444.
– Board of Regents base maintenance and repair funding, $1,632,999.
Rounds cries about needing money to repair roads and bridges than turns around and cuts infrastructure spending in other departments. Huh?
General
– Sales Tax on Food Refund Program, $2,353,302.
This cut is quite hypocritical of Rounds, but no surprise from Mr. Broken promises. If you remember a few years back when the food tax elimination was on the ballot one of Mike’s arguments to keep it was this program. Now with it being cut, the slack will have to be picked up by private nonprofit food pantries. Thanks Mike.
– Co-op Extension Service, $1 million.
We live in a time when people are being encouraged to grow their own gardens to help save on food costs, so what does out genius Governor do? Cuts the service that helps people plant their own gardens. Thank goodness we still have the googles to help us out (and flying tomato blog).
– DENR EPA federal funds swap, $230,000.
This should come as no surprise that Rounds would cut EPA spending when he trying to get more coal plants, a nuclear plant and a refinery built in SD. Go figure.
Public Health
– SCHIP shortfall (pending reauthorization), $752,959.
– Adult Medicaid Primary Care Case Management, $647,360.
– Nursing Home Client Cost Share, $429,678.
– Rehab Services Independent Living Services, $378,130.
– Mosquito control program, $300,000.
A healthy society is just as important as an educated one. Well we know how he feels about education, so these cuts are no surprise. The mosquito control cut is confusing though. This program is tried and true and has proven to keep the bugs at bay. This summer I noticed that the bugs were well controlled on the bike trails and in my yard. What a bonehead cut. West Nile – bring it on.
Once again, Rounds has proven he is not a competent or effective leader. He also doesn’t represent the public very well. You’ll notice he proposed only ONE cut to FTE’s and NO cuts in some of his lucrative no-bid contracts to his buddies. Mike has proven once again that his campaign contributors are more important than the hardworking taxpayers of SD. Thanks for nothing, Mike.
My suggestion would have been a 5-10% across the board cut to EVERY department and program, to be fair. Secondly I would have suggested we charge a 4.5% retail tax on ALL non-essential goods and services. No exceptions. Then we eliminate taxes on food and utilities.
That’s why I could never serve in the legislature, my ideas make sense.