The head for Friends of South Dakota Public Broadcasting is painting a grim picture for the network if a proposed cut goes through.
Those comments were made during a funding hearing for the network on Friday.
In December, former-Governor Kristi Noem called for a 65 percent cut in state funding. Gov. Larry Rhoden said he will not propose a new budget this year.
Ryan Howlett is the CEO of Friends of SDPB, a nonprofit corporation that fundraises on behalf of the network. He said the cut will lead to reductions in CPB funding as well as local donations.
“It’s not just a $3.6 million budget cut. It’s much more substantial than that because of the domino effect," Howlett said.
SDPB’s current operational budget is around $10.7 million. The network estimates the proposed $3.6 million state dollar cut would ultimately lead to $7 million less.
Former Gov. Noem described the state allocation as the highest per capita in the nation. Her staff failed to share where they got those numbers.
According to Friends, SDPB receives the second highest per-capita of similar statewide networks. However, it offers more services than the rest—including local content, government transparency, high school sports, early learning and emergency alerts.
The bulk of state funding to SDPB goes toward maintaining infrastructure costs. Of the $5.5 million it receives annually, $4.5 million goes toward maintaining SDPB’s tower network.
Severn Ashes is the engineering director for SDPB. He says the network is the primary emergency alert system for the state, which coordinates with the Department of Criminal Investigation and Department of Public Safety.
“Those go over our point-to-point microwave system that’s non-internet dependent to where if we lost internet, we could still get alerts to 98 percent of the state," Ashes said. "Because it’s going from our tower system, enclosed, out to our broadcast sites.”
If the cuts go through, the network says it would have to shed personnel who produce local content. The bulk of remaining staff would be engineers and a few administration positions.
The proposed cuts are in part due to a decrease in revenue collections. On Thursday, Gov. Rhoden described the revenue picture as “nothing on the positive side.”
State lawmakers will set revenue targets next week, which allows them to start piecing the budget together. It’s typically the last piece of legislation to get passes. Session ends on March 14.
