Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Governor Office Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Governor’s office presents steady $3.1 million budget, emphasizes salaries and legal work
Summary
A representative of Governor Noem’s office outlined a $3.1 million budget request unchanged from last year, noting 83% of the request covers salaries and benefits for 22 FTEs; officials said the request contains no program increases and highlighted legal and constituent‑service workloads.
Ryan Bruner and Missy Locke, representing the governor’s office, presented the office’s FY26 budget brief to the Joint Appropriations Committee and answered committee questions.
Bruner said the governor’s office requested $3,100,000, the same as the prior year, and that the amount could increase if the Legislature adopts a salary policy or other statewide adjustments. He said roughly 83% of the budget supports salaries and benefits across 22 full‑time equivalent positions and that the office provides administrative support, communications, legal review and policy advisors who liaise with state agencies.
Missy Locke described the office’s second largest spending category, contractual services, at $421,877, largely covering technology and central services bills such as rent and IT bureau billings. She said office rent was estimated at $145,698 and computer services (IT bureau billings) at $123,434. Locke told the committee the governor’s office had no supplemental budget requests, no software initiatives and no proposed fee increases in the current submission.
Bruner answered committee questions about multi‑state litigation record‑retention (“lit‑hold”) obligations and said the governor’s legal staff have taken a substantial discovery and litigation workload in recent months. He and Locke also discussed modest FTE turnover and noted the governor and lieutenant governor count toward FTE totals.
Committee members asked about the contingency fund and whether funds remained from last year; Bruner described limited uses, including employee awards and association dues. He clarified that a separate request related to a gun range was not part of the governor’s office budget. The presentation finished without formal action by the committee.
