Pennington County holds budget hearing as department heads and nonprofits outline requests

Chair called the June 23 meeting to order and the board approved the agenda. Commission Director Jordan opened the hearing by describing the process for the 2027 budget and warning that personnel numbers were still placeholders.

Jordan said the county’s current 2027 requests show “total expenditures … is $129 million,” and estimated revenues at roughly $123–124 million, leaving about a $4–5 million gap to close. He told commissioners that personnel requests were being carried forward with 2026 figures as placeholders while departments refined anticipated staffing changes.

The rest of the day brought presentations from a long list of county departments, social-service providers and community organizations. Speakers included the Central States Fair (capital needs at the James Kirstad Event Center), the Rapid City Library (a $373,000 county funding request and a debate over the library levy), health providers such as Complete Health (noting rising uninsured rates among local patients), mental-health and victim-service groups, the public defender and the state’s attorney, and the sheriff’s office (which emphasized jail capacity and juvenile facility pressures).

Commissioners pressed for follow-up data on several items, including the Treasurer’s request for a clearer accounting of out-of-state vehicle registrations, Prairie Hills Transit’s trip and local funding maps, and the Rapid City Library’s breakdown of county versus other-community cardholders. Jordan committed to returning with more detailed cash-position figures at the July 7 meeting, and commissioners set a schedule of further budget deliberations through July 21 and the end of September for final adoption.

No formal budget decisions were made on June 23; the board recessed the hearing and will continue provisional budget deliberations at subsequent meetings.