[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6157058,"mediaKeyId","5467054-5eee06ffb817fdc2814dc5e24fc31713","parentId",5467054,"title","County approves $132.2 million provisional 2026 budget; officials flag staffing, tax options","audioSeconds",5309,"startMs",145000,"endMs",5454000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=5467054-5eee06ffb817fdc2814dc5e24fc31713&start=145&end=5454","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5467054-5eee06ffb817fdc2814dc5e24fc31713/thumbnail_145000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6157058/Pennington-County/South-Dakota/County-approves-1322-million-provisional-2026-budget-officials-flag-staffing-tax-options","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6157058-352cf6c9e8f997e996e3b00b360f81d7/orig.mp4?Expires=1775252175&Signature=jFMyczQuZ0C-6T5rjrsMBr~yW2ukBIdZYKqfJ~rgwhqiQeWolsVUrV1AwrmvaTsNaJgRWmT-FPZVTWECZdDkP257efCCyAR4ti7PD0WH4Uppnooo8m5JKBYVvL8LhWfMa5cAoK0~H6cGdcKHwJLZolHyt7uB8GYdy0XE8B1acPJSwQfsCjmDkUntZsLa~nAWr82t-bzYA7TC6cSZE1S2n-yLp34zliz1R2iDUBvOr5EVFqlQdNuOEcWFYrfW0MDVTjQeaNR-Y72Rw3a9SnrAIiI3EIuIQH9VdvOx-qJzRt0qvMMS8uXYyChjJFP0hPNPjsMuEEdMQ-tcsCVNyvqi9g__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Pennington County, SD","date","2025-07-23T21:49:05Z","article","The Pennington County Board of Commissioners on July 23 approved a provisional 2026 budget of $132,234,641 and set an additional public budget hearing for Aug. 19 before the mandatory Sept. 2 meeting. The provisional budget figure includes the 5% mandatory appropriation required by SDCL and reflects the board’s decision to present a baseline that does not yet assume property tax growth or CPI adjustments.

Jordan Ebb, director of the Commission Office, said the county’s estimated cash position as of June 30 would leave the general fund with a projected start balance for 2026 of about $28,300,000. “When I’m looking at the cash balance accounts … we’re looking at about 35.6, almost $35,700,000 in the general fund,” Ebb told commissioners as he reviewed spreadsheets. After accounting for assigned and restricted funds, Ebb said the unassigned balance would be about $16,200,000.

Ebb summarized major provisional budget drivers: initial department expenditure requests totaling approximately $128,600,000 (about a 1.8% increase over 2025), personnel requests that originally totaled nearly $74,000,000, and outside‑agency requests of about $2,500,000. He said personnel is the largest single component of the county budget: “Personnel is a pretty big portion of the county’s budget.”

On staffing, Ebb said department heads requested 12 additional positions for 2026. He listed those by office: two full‑time deputy public defenders (one noted as 50% grant funded in the initial requests), one full‑time legal secretary for the public defender’s office, three FTEs for the treasurer’s office (tax and title specialists), and six positions for the state’s attorney’s office (five deputy state’s attorneys and one office manager). Ebb estimated the total cost of granting those requests at roughly $1.1 million if budgeted with family health coverage, and slightly over $1.0 million under an employee+1 insurance assumption.

On property taxes, Ebb explained the provisional calculations left out full growth and CPI to show a conservative baseline: the county’s property tax collections as budgeted are about $60.9 million; adding CPI and growth would increase the tax request by roughly $3.0 million to about $64.0 million. He said initial revenue requests across funds were about $126.8 million, but the provisional version using flat taxes reduced that to about $123.8 million; a three‑to‑five‑year trend projection he ran showed revenues closer to $122.9 million.

Commissioners discussed next steps and data requests. Several members urged more time before final decisions on wage increases, FTE approvals and funding philosophy for outside agencies; one said he was “not comfortable … making a bunch of decisions today on the provisional budget” while figures continued arriving. The board voted to schedule an additional budget hearing on Aug. 19 and to meet as required on Sept. 2 to work toward a final budget by the statutory deadline.

The motion to approve the provisional budget passed after a voice vote. The motion was moved by Commissioner Hadcock and seconded by Commissioner Durr; commissioners responded “aye” and the chair announced the motion carried.

Budget staff said they will re‑run projections if commissioners direct staff to add property tax growth and CPI for a final budget, or if they change assumptions about personnel (for example, step increases, cost‑of‑living adjustments or health plan assumptions).","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","7-23-2025 Pennington County Board of Commissioners Meeting - Provisional Budget Hearings FY2026","oneSentenceSummary","The Pennington County Board of Commissioners approved a provisional 2026 budget of $132,234,641 on July 23, 2025, while commissioners discussed personnel costs, a set of new full‑time positions and whether to use property tax growth and CPI increases this year.","taxTitle","Pennington County, South Dakota","taxId",2745,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6157140,"State’s Attorney, public defender say fuller staffing and pretrial services could cut jail population",1546,5670000,7216000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5467054-5eee06ffb817fdc2814dc5e24fc31713&start=5670&end=7216","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5467054-5eee06ffb817fdc2814dc5e24fc31713/thumbnail_5670000.jpg","/articles/6157140/Pennington-County/South-Dakota/States-Attorney-public-defender-say-fuller-staffing-and-pretrial-services-could-cut-jail-population","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6157140-5f2f1ef9c9ffebfaae485462ad22f24a/orig.mp4?Expires=1775252175&Signature=PsXrAhySjOaQp9ezTrzI9roAPI~FJvl8UOcMvkuUmB~TwTuLuA91TVKiCi3PILmPUIfo22fm~cQZYtH~1Rk1hSrEfvWwKByKKBSF9jy2b1KxtaDw1cSmrL6ZEGucn~-h3LgSY-9HXEJOyIDiiCSj49Od29Uvdfp8hUOnmCwRZgnYhpALWEo3l5mRTZNCx169sSui0R3hGhWVud~Vt4UYasBmTYafdpCH6mr88l1vZdPHLIVa-ten13NCQ2COCMUtc21hAq4MMMXi96MDV4Cl8bFk7eHEg0s4KCAYaX0BovJzpw7k8wtuV8YaYxn9MVJesByNvc3gt4qGMgK1B3Vslg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Officials from Pennington County’s criminal justice system told the Board of Commissioners on July 23 that staffing shortages in both the State’s Attorney’s Office and the public defender’s office, delayed case processing and the absence of pretrial services are contributing to a large county jail population.

“Fully staffing the State’s Attorney's Office is going to positively impact your jail population,” State’s Attorney Laura Retzel told commissioners. Retzel said many inmates are housed while awaiting progress through the judicial process and cited paperwork and scheduling delays that extend stays. She described an example of an arrested veteran whose court‑appointed attorney paperwork was delayed, prolonging his time in custody while the court process caught up.

Retzel and Public Defender Eric Witcher both argued that faster case processing, adequate staffing and pretrial supervision could reduce the number of people in the jail who are not serving sentences. “There’s a big part of the people in your jail that need to be there … but the population that we could really make a positive impact on are … the low bond, non compliant, not coming back to court population,” Retzel said. She also noted discovery delays, including large volumes of body‑worn camera footage that take staff time to process.

Witcher said the county’s caseload per attorney is significantly above national and regional benchmarks, citing figures presented at the meeting: Colorado’s average felony caseload per attorney is about 91, while Pennington County’s felony‑division attorneys are carrying roughly 220 cases per attorney; misdemeanor workloads exceed 1,000 cases per attorney in his office compared with an NDAA benchmark of 400. “We are so dramatically understaffed,” Witcher said.

Both offices urged commissioners to consider investments that could improve throughput, including piloting pretrial services and adult diversion programs. Retzel said the county has been selected as a pilot county for pretrial services in South Dakota should the legislature provide funding; both she and Witcher asked for state support to staff those programs.

Sheriff’s Office representatives and commissioners requested more granular data showing the jail population breakdown (people detained for violent offenses, people serving sentences, people detained on technical violations or inability to make cash bond, etc.). Chief Deputy Mark Hughes said staff could prepare charts and a jail population “pie chart” showing categories of inmates and how many are in custody for each reason; commissioners asked that those charts be produced for the Aug. 19 meeting.

No formal policy decision was made; commissioners asked the State’s Attorney, the public defender and sheriff’s staff to provide updated caseload and population breakdowns, and to return with proposals and cost estimates for pretrial services or other interventions that might reduce jail bed demand.","State’s Attorney Laura Retzel and Public Defender Eric Witcher told commissioners that understaffing in prosecution and defense, and a lack of pretrial services, are major drivers of the county jail population and urged investment in case processing and diversion as alternatives to building more beds.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6157145,"Commissioners debate reserve‑accumulation practice, consider capital funds and tightening outside‑agency funding",1136,916000,2052000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=5467054-5eee06ffb817fdc2814dc5e24fc31713&start=916&end=2052","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/5467054-5eee06ffb817fdc2814dc5e24fc31713/thumbnail_916000.jpg","/articles/6157145/Pennington-County/South-Dakota/Commissioners-debate-reserveaccumulation-practice-consider-capital-funds-and-tightening-outsideagency-funding","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6157145-33d1f9eff6a6e74fd99f94908e16c007/orig.mp4?Expires=1775252175&Signature=Zi8Pe~aISXWDbMkNxiZqSttAiEN2tUTAKh5FnH16BZpne9TRztc0DO8lOv7kSemO9jPhWYDAuKbsQQ9GkEpmXNtdHPoF8M7AAbOduU732i-qo5n6GxZItD1djekg1Rg-9mX0vLv-Ww0LiEq5r6rgNd7VQ-qbHvWHZmw6NlVilID4SoU3KyI7u02TFvar2rgQKS0ecVH4OHVEqVgFCPUy~5ztJCstBYvf5y8FgbpdKJaSC7z~iy5TA9f5YRk2DpAtcUvKwUTee2NbMjyfrzRLBD6aNEjZsT0HrZNr649TxIk5C3e0o3znIv17Icr8oZYpxd1JlhWPRU77EkZRUvJXFg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","A prolonged discussion at the July 23 Pennington County commission meeting focused on the county’s longstanding practice of building reserve accumulations outside of line‑item budgets and how the practice affects transparency and the use of cash for capital projects.

Commissioner Durr urged a change in practice: “This practice of budgeting ... I don't want those and I have talked to you know departments about this and what I would like to see is ... if we knew in this fiscal year ... that we were going to purchase a jail transport bus ... let's just budget for it and so let's put it in the budget so we can have a conversation about it.” Durr said reserve accumulations totaling about $11,000,000 are being tracked separately and then expended later via budget supplements.

Staff and other commissioners proposed alternatives. Jordan Ebb said the board could set up separate capital outlay funds and transfer cash from the general fund into those funds so the transfers and balances appear in the budget and financial statements rather than only in an auditor’s internal tracking. “You could set up a separate fund specifically dedicated towards capital outlay projects,” Ebb said; “you could set up a fund where you can allocate … you’re gonna build up this reserve fund but it's gonna be in. You create a fund for that and you set that up and then when you set up that fund … then you can say at that point in time what I'm allocating these dollars for.”

Commissioner Durr also proposed reconsidering funding levels for non‑mandated outside agencies and said he was “down to looking at 0 funding from me on those outside entities with anomalies,” while noting the library levy and statutorily required domestic violence funding would require discussion. Commissioner Roskinek urged a more gradual approach: “maybe we should consider taking baby steps and not slamming any doors in front of people's faces.”

No formal vote was taken to end the reserve accumulation practice. Staff was asked to draft options for the next meeting, including establishing dedicated capital funds, clarifying which outside agencies are mandated by statute and producing lists that separate mandated from discretionary funding. Cindy, the county auditor, confirmed staff could produce the fund transfers and that the approach would show transfers and balances in the financials.","Commissioners questioned decades‑long practice of accumulating reserves outside the formal budget and discussed creating transparent capital outlay funds; some members recommended scaling back or pausing non‑mandated outside agency funding.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

County approves $132.2 million provisional 2026 budget; officials flag staffing, tax options

State’s Attorney, public defender say fuller staffing and pretrial services could cut jail population

Commissioners debate reserve‑accumulation practice, consider capital funds and tightening outside‑agency funding