SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The past two fiscal years of 2024 and 2025 have seen Gov. Kristi Noem’s budget pass $7 billion in total funds. The funding was $7.257 billion in FY24 and $7.294 billion in FY23.
Before that Noem’s FY21 budget was $4.9 billion followed by $5 billion in FY22 and $5.7 billion in FY23.
Noem will present her FY26 budget on Tuesday. The fiscal year runs from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026.
The state has posted budget surpluses each year from FY20 through FY24.
The state ended the 2024 budget year with a surplus of $80.7 million. used for prison
The FY23 surplus was $96.8 million. It was $115 million in FY22. The surplus was $85.9 million in FY21. in FY20 the surplus was $19.1 million.
South Dakota’s budget depends in part on federal aid. The state takes in more federal money than it pays in taxes.
Using FY22 as an example, the year when the state had a surplus of $115 million, South Dakota had an 11% boost in federal money from FY21, according to Pew. The boost was larger than any other state and it was related to the timing of receiving and spending federal pandemic aid money.
South Dakota experienced the biggest annual percentage-point growth in the federal share of state revenue, up 11 percentage points from fiscal 2021. This swing was related to the timing of receiving and spending federal pandemic aid.
SmartAsset ranked South Dakota 44th in terms of federal aid it receives compared to what it pays in taxes. In 2023, the state paid $5.66 for every federal dollar it received. North Dakota paid $2.22 for every dollar of federal money it received.
For 2024, WalletHub ranked South Dakota 26th in terms of states most reliant on federal money as part of its budget. It ranked the dependency of residents on federal money at 29th. WalletHub evaluated taxes paid to the federal government, the share of federal jobs, and federal funding as a share of state revenue for its rankings.
In August 2024, USAFacts said the state received 15% of its revenue from federal aid. That is about $2.6 billion.
