Broadcaster Press 3 July 19, 2016 www.broadcasteronline.com Another AAA And Budget Surplus By Gov. Dennis Daugaard: Throughout my time serving as governor, good stewardship of taxpayer dollars has been my goal. Two pieces of recent news can encourage South Dakotans that their state government is handling their money responsibly. On July 11, Moody’s announced that it was giving South Dakota a AAA public issuer rating. In their announcement, Moody’s attributed the rating to South Dakota’s “high levels of reserves, low fixed costs, stable revenues and an economy that has historically been more stable than the rest of the nation.” The rating is South Dakota’s third AAA rating. Fitch awarded their highest rating to South Dakota last month, following Standard & Poors’ similar ranking of our state last year. The good news from Moody’s was followed by the announcement of South Dakota’s fifth consecutive budget surplus. We closed the books on our budget year that ended June 30, 2016, and announced a $14.1 million surplus which will be transferred to our budget reserve fund. Attaining a surplus this year certainly wasn’t inevitable. Just a few months ago revenue was trending below projections adopted in March. With the slowing of the agriculture sector, the state’s revenues were weaker in April and May. April revenue was lower than was received in April of 2015. May 2016 was better than May 2015, but still weaker than projected. Fortunately, June’s revenue came in higher than projected, leaving the state with $3.6 million more revenue than projected for the full fiscal year. In large part our surplus is result of the fiscal restraint demonstrated by state agencies. Every agency reverted funds this year. Instead of spending every dollar appropriated to them, state agencies left nearly $10.5 million unspent, which also contributed to our surplus. When I took office in 2011, balancing the budget was my number one priority. It’s not a flashy endeavor. Nor is it an easy task. I would not choose to relive In Drainage Fight, State Supreme Court Decides It’s Been Using Wrong Standard By Bob Mercer State Capitol Bureau PIERRE – The South Dakota Supreme Court acknowledged Thursday its justices have used an incorrect standard of review in some cases during the past four decades. The justices made that determination in an appeal of a Hughes County drainage dispute. The justices ruled unanimously that the dispute should return to circuit court for further action. The justices said the dispute didn’t meet the criteria in state law necessary for a permanent injunction. After a November 2013 trial the jury found in favor for landowners Michael Magner and Denise Williams. They had sued Brinkman Arabian Stables and landowners Glenn Brinkman and Susan Brinkman. The Brinkmans twice dug trenches in 2007 and 2008 and built a private road in 2010 to divert rain water from the Brinkman property onto the neighboring land owned by Magner and Williams. The jury awarded $9,950 in damages to Magner and Williams for the loss of cattle pasture. The sides returned to court for a relief hearing last August. Circuit Judge Mark Barnett granted a permanent injunction as a way to keep the matter from resulting in more lawsuits in the future. The judge awarded Magner and Williams an additional $28,936 against future damages. The Brinkmans’ lawyer, James Carlon of Pierre, appealed to the Supreme Court. Carlon wanted the judge to throw out the case for lack of evidence and wanted the injunction overturned. The Supreme Court decision said the judge properly acted in refusing to dismiss the case. But the justices also decided the injunction wasn’t legally appropriate as a means to avoid future litigation. The justices said Magner and Williams could have sought compensation for future damages in addition to past damages. “The fact that they chose not to do so does not render an injunction necessary to prevent multiple suits,” the justices said. Therefore, the judge’s injunction ordering the defendants to pay $28,936 was not statutorily authorized in the case. The injunction also went too far in prohibiting any future alterations in drainage by the Brinkmans, the justices said. State law allows landowners to drain onto other property but must not create “unreasonable hardship or injury to the owner of the land receiving the drainage,” the justices said. “Therefore, the second half of the injunction—as written—is overbroad and an abuse of discretion,” the decision said. The court remanded – that is, returned – the case to Judge Barnett to consider whether a permanent injunction would be the correct action. The decision written by Chief Justice David Gilbertson said the case was “an opportunity to reexamine” the standard of review used by the court. The chief justice said the Supreme Court often applied an abuse-of-discretion standard to a judge’s grant or denial of a motion for judgment as a matter of law. But the majority of courts have rejected the abuse-of-discretion standard in such cases, Gilbertson wrote. Abuse-of-discretion typically comes into play when there is a question about the facts and evidence at the lower court level. The chief justice said the court in a 1978 decision known as Lytle v. Morgan wrongly followed the abuse-of-discretion standard through “a misreading of two inapplicable cases.” In the current drainage case, Gilbertson said the jury found sufficient evidence “the water invasion” resulted from the Brinkmans’ actions. He said the court would now review a judge’s decision whether to grant or deny a motion for judgment under a de novo standard.¬¬¬¬¬¬¬ That means the justices would consider the matter as though for the first time, and decide whether the judge correctly applied the law, without giving deference to the judge. The state law providing for a permanent injunction lists four conditions. The drainage case didn’t meet any of those conditions, the chief justice wrote. That was why the justices sent the case back to Judge Barnett for further determination. the 2011 session when we had to make cuts, and saying no to funding requests isn’t pleasant. Still, managing the budget is among the most important tasks of any elected official. As Calvin Coolidge once said, “There is no dignity quite so impressive, and no one independence quite so important, as living within your means.” Judging by Coolidge’s actions as president, I’d say he meant this applies to government as well as individuals. South Dakotans do their best to live within their means, and their government should do likewise. In a time when many other states are adopting rosy projections and employing budget gimmicks to justify overspending, South Dakota is acting responsibly. We don’t spend money we don’t have, we keep our budget structurally balanced and we seize opportunities to spend in the short-term where it can lead to savings. These practices reflect the responsible values of South Dakota citizens. SD National Guard’s Army Band Wins National Supply Award MITCHELL, S.D. - The U.S. Army announced the South Dakota National Guard’s 147th Army Band as a recipient of a Chief of Staff of the Army Supply Excellence Award. The national award recognizes Army units who demonstrate excellence in supply operations, property accountability and resource management. The Mitchell-based unit, whose primary purpose is to provide music throughout the spectrum of military operations, for Soldiers and civilians, won first place in the Modified Table of Organization and Equipment, or MTOE, unit category. “It’s quite an honor for the 147th to receive this award,” said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Terry Beckler, unit commander. “For me, it’s validation that we are doing things right and to the Army standard. As a longtime member of this unit, I understand that it has taken us years to get to this point.” The 147th Army Band’s submission packet, prepared by Staff Sgt. Timothy Storly, the unit supply NCO, was so well received by award officials that he was asked to allow it to be used as the standard for future Supply Excellence Award submissions. “Staff Sgt. Storly was the driving force behind the unit achieving this award,” said Beckler. “He put in an enormous amount of time just to submit the packet. Once the packet was nominated, I know that he put in even more time to make sure our portion of the armory was in the best shape possible.” According to Beckler, what really impressed the inspectors was his knowledge in the supply area. “Staff Sgt. Storly really studies the regulations and knows what he’s talking about,” he said. “If he hadn’t, the extensive inspection with rapid-fire questions would not have gone as well. In short, this award happened due to his efforts.” The Supply Excellence Award Program was established in 1984 by the Chief of Staff of the Army to recognize excellence in supply operations at various unit and organizational levels. The program’s objectives are to enhance logistics readiness of all Army units, enforce the Command Supply Discipline Program and provide a structure for official recognition of group and individual initiatives. The family of Mel and Betty Larson request a card shower for their 72nd Wedding Anniversary and Betty’s 93rd Birthday. Love Your Family! K&B ConstruCtion By Daris Howard We were at a community reception for donors of the college arts programs. The reception was previous to a big summer concert. I was visiting with a friend when my wife, Donna, brought a lady over to meet me. “This is my husband,” Donna said pointing to me. “Daris, this is Melva. She wants to meet you.” I reached out my hand. “Glad to meet you, Melva.” Melva was about sixty years old. She was a pleasant looking woman with a big smile. She seemed almost giddy. She took my hand and shook it. “I’ve got to tell you, I am one of your biggest fans. In fact, probably the only fan bigger than myself is my husband. We both race to get the paper on Thursdays so we can be first to read your story.” I smiled. “I’m glad to know that someone reads what I write. Sometimes I think my whole audience consists of my wife, my children, and birds where people use my stories to line the bottom of cages.” Melva laughed. “You’re funny. I do hope you will be here for a little while. My husband should be back in about a half hour. He dropped me off and left to run some errands. He would love to meet you.” I wasn’t sure how soon we planned to take our seats for the concert, so I looked at Donna. She nodded, so I knew she felt we could wait. “Sure,” I said to Melva. “We’ll be around for a while.” Melva went off to keep an eye out for her husband, and Donna and I mingled with others. We had been involved in theatre and music for a lot of years, and Donna was on the university committee for the promotion of the arts, so we knew a lot of the people there. We enjoyed visiting, but as time for the concert grew closer, I became concerned that we would not get very good seats. Melva kept coming back to check and see if we were still there, and when she saw we were, she would go off again to look for her husband. Finally, just as we were ready to go to the concert hall, Melva came in pulling a man by the hand. “Merve,” Melva said, “guess who this is.” Merve looked like he was completely out of place at this sort of event. The concert was quite formal, and all of the women were wearing dresses and most of the men were wearing suits. All of the men not in suits were wearing collar shirts and ties. That is, all were except for Merve. He had on a nice flannel shirt, new blue jeans, cowboy boots, and polo tie. The look on his face said he’d rather be almost anywhere else. “How am I supposed to know?” he asked Melva. “Think of your favorite things to do every week,” Melva said. Merve thought a minute. He then looked at me and asked, “Do you work at the feed store?” I laughed, and Melva said, “No, Merve. Think of the newspaper.” Suddenly it dawned on him who I was. “Why you’re Mr. Howard, aren’t you?” I nodded, and he grabbed my hand and shook it heartily. “You don’t look anything like your picture in the paper, but then I’m sure they did that Photoshop stuff to make it look better than real.” I wasn’t quite sure what to say. I knew no one had Photoshopped it. “When I read your story about the farm and ranch store,” Merve said, “I laughed so hard I almost broke a rib. In fact, I named one of my horses after you.” “Really?” I said. “That’s quite an honor. I’d like to see your horse.” “Sorry,” Merve said. “Can’t do that. He was the stupidest animal Ixever owned, andFont Size: 30 to sell him.” I finally had pt 3.5” 2.5” | Maximum I guess my fan club is down one horse. 3.5” x 2.5” | Maximum Font Size: 30 pt Have 403(b) Have 403(b) questions? Let’s talk. questions? Let’s talk. Curt Robinson Financial Curt Robinson Advisor . 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