Governor Kristi Noem made a big show of rejecting some federal unemployment assistance last summer, complete with misrepresentations of data. Of course, she also misrepresented her own sloganeering, saying South Dakota wasn’t suffering and didn’t need help but then spending the fall and winter pouring out millions of dollars of coronavirus aid to businesses and her rich brothers.
Translation: Noem only wants federal aid that she can launder into favors for her friends and family.
The American Rescue Plan enacted by Congress and the President offers Governor Noem a lot of aid that she can deem unnecessary and turn back. She can reject all the state funding that is designed to help reverse the cutbacks in public jobs, which have hurt public service and local economies. But she won’t be able to block the money that the ARP will send directly to county governments, colleges, and schools.
The National Association of Counties says the ARP will provide South Dakota counties with $171.6 million to help recover from the coronavirus pandemic:
| County | ARP direct relief |
| Aurora | $533,540 |
| Beadle | $3,578,846 |
| Bennett | $652,621 |
| Bon Homme | $1,338,406 |
| Brookings | $6,802,968 |
| Brown | $7,532,585 |
| Brule | $1,027,321 |
| Buffalo | $380,518 |
| Butte | $2,022,640 |
| Campbell | $266,867 |
| Charles Mix | $1,802,126 |
| Clark | $724,574 |
| Clay | $2,728,790 |
| Codington | $5,432,173 |
| Corson | $792,455 |
| Custer | $1,740,064 |
| Davison | $3,835,239 |
| Day | $1,051,951 |
| Deuel | $843,850 |
| Dewey | $1,142,717 |
| Douglas | $566,510 |
| Edmunds | $742,611 |
| Fall River | $1,301,945 |
| Faulk | $445,877 |
| Grant | $1,367,692 |
| Gregory | $811,655 |
| Haakon | $368,299 |
| Hamlin | $1,195,470 |
| Hand | $618,875 |
| Hanson | $669,688 |
| Harding | $251,739 |
| Hughes | $3,399,060 |
| Hutchinson | $1,414,045 |
| Hyde | $252,321 |
| Jackson | $648,548 |
| Jerauld | $390,409 |
| Jones | $175,131 |
| Kingsbury | $957,889 |
| Lake | $2,481,899 |
| Lawrence | $5,012,285 |
| Lincoln | $11,855,399 |
| Lyman | $733,302 |
| Marshall | $957,113 |
| McCook | $1,083,370 |
| McPherson | $461,392 |
| Meade | $5,494,817 |
| Mellette | $399,718 |
| Miner | $429,780 |
| Minnehaha | $37,457,150 |
| Moody | $1,275,375 |
| Oglala Lakota | $2,749,542 |
| Pennington | $22,065,961 |
| Perkins | $555,649 |
| Potter | $417,561 |
| Roberts | $2,015,852 |
| Sanborn | $454,604 |
| Spink | $1,236,586 |
| Stanley | $600,838 |
| Sully | $269,776 |
| Todd | $1,973,766 |
| Tripp | $1,055,248 |
| Turner | $1,626,025 |
| Union | $3,089,913 |
| Walworth | $1,054,085 |
| Yankton | $4,424,635 |
| Ziebach | $534,509 |
The Learning Policy Institute says the ARP will send $382.0 million in emergency relief directly to South Dakota’s K-12 schools, about $2772 per student. The American Council on Education estimates that South Dakota’s colleges and universities will receive $79.5 million:
| Institution | estimated ARP allocation |
| Augustana | $3,213,000 |
| BHSU | $5,415,000 |
| DSU | $3,223,000 |
| Dakota Wesleyan | $1,918,000 |
| Lake Area Tech | $5,150,000 |
| Mitchell Tech | $2,600,000 |
| Mount Marty | $1,754,000 |
| N.Am. Baptist Seminary | $163,000 |
| NSU | $2,699,000 |
| Oglala Lakota | $4,712,000 |
| Presentation | $1,410,000 |
| Sinte Gleska | $1,466,000 |
| Sisseton Wahpeton | $558,000 |
| SDSMT | $4,008,000 |
| SDSU | $17,669,000 |
| Southeast Tech | $5,389,000 |
| USF | $3,259,000 |
| USD | $11,975,000 |
| Western Dakota Tech | $2,920,000 |
That’s over $633 million going straight to our counties, colleges, and schools, money that Noem won’t be able to stash away in the bank to collect interest, fabricate a state surplus, or buy jet planes for her frequent vacations. Now you just have to keep an eye on your local officials to make sure they don’t get any silly ideas about doing favors for their well-to-do friends….
It is nice to see some money get down to the local entities, BUT left out of this are the townships where the need is ignored the most.
https://ago.wv.gov/Documents/2021.03.16%20Yellen%20Letter%203-16%20FINAL.pdf?csf=1&e=uVgdGv
Of course Ravnsborg signed on so Kristi must still be giving him marching orders.
I have no doubt most counties (commissioners) will find a way to piss it down their legs.
This seems basic to me. The Fed is saying that if a state has CHOSEN to reduce its tax base, then the Fed is not going to backfill that gap for them.
In a way, it is an up-front and true denial of “trickle down” economics/stimulus conservative voodoo economics. It also tacitly acknowledges that cuts made in times of trouble tend to stick around after the trouble clears — addressing the false GOP contention that EVERYTHING is always a “reason” to cut taxes.
In the middle of an economic crisis caused by a global pandemic, who considers cutting revenue streams?
South DaCola, isn’t this the golden opportunity for counties to move forward on their bridges and roads infrastructure repair/replace “New Deal?” That was THE issue from last year’s legislative discussions.
This also seems likea golden opportunity for more progressive candidates, Democrat or old school Republican, to highlight the potential down side of re-electing pols like Thune, Rounds, and Johnson whose votes exemplify and support the Trumpian/Noem philosophy of personal selfishness and greed rather than supporting our public institutions, cities and towns. Had the votes of these pols prevailed, none of these funds would have come to these South Dakota localities.
well….its a windfall that South Dakota and other small states receive because they are small states with 2 Senators (votes for passage)…the minimum award is always quite generous, virtually a “free lunch” in this case as neither Rounds nor Thune voted aye for the money. We’ll buy a lot of culverts, maybe a new gravel crusher.
I see lots of raises for county employees, additional health insurance benefits for same, and new employee vehicles.