PIERRE - Lawmakers continue to fight Gov. Mike Rounds' proposal to cut $2 million from the state Highway Patrol's budget - a measure that would reduce trooper overtime and patrol mileage and would delay vehicle replacements.

"Morale in the Highway Patrol is at an all-time low," Sen. Gene Abdallah, R-Sioux Falls, told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

The committee unanimously approved Abdallah's bill to restore the $2 million to the patrol's budget for fiscal 2009.

Now, SB172 goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee, where unplanned spending measures often get chilly receptions. However, 86 of the 105 members of the state Legislature have signed on as sponsors of SB172.

Abdallah, a former head of the Highway Patrol, said at least 18 troopers had complained to him privately about the cutbacks. Cutting $2 million from a $20 million annual budget would reduce public safety, he said. "There's nothing about this cut that's positive."

Rounds says the $2 million cut is necessary because the state's Highway Trust Fund has dwindled from about $90 million to about $10 million. The governor also insists the patrol would remain at "full strength."

State budget director Jason Dilges defended the cuts during the committee hearing, saying the purpose was to make the Highway Patrol more efficient.

The cuts would come primarily in four areas. The Highway Patrol would save:

-$264,000 by reducing travel expenses and by delaying capital improvements and equipment purchases

-$285,000 by reducing annual mileage from 5.5 million miles to 4.3 million miles, a 22 percent reduction

-$242,000 by reducing trooper overtime, a 2 percent reduction in hours

-$1,050,000 by postponing the purchase of new Highway Patrol vehicles.

Troopers would reduce mileage by conducting more "stationary patrols," parking along highways to monitor traffic. "Routine patrols are going to be down," Abdallah said, and that would mean fewer drug busts, drunken-driving arrests and drug seizures.

Delaying the purchase of new patrol cars was only deferring an expense, Abdallah said. He added that anyone who expected troopers to respond to emergencies at 100 mph in cars with 140,000 miles on them "has no respect for the agency."

Abdallah said Highway Patrol funding should have come first before spending $2 million for another state airplane and especially before spending $750,000 to subsidize the state fair, a measure Abdallah also has opposed. "We're pouring that money down a rat hole, as far as I'm concerned, and we're jeopardizing public safety," he said.

Dilges made the governor's case to the committee. "This isn't a debate on the level of service," he said. "This is more of a debate on what we can do to make the patrol work better."

Dilges pointed out that the Department of Transportation, the Game, Fish & Parks Department and other agencies also had to absorb cuts - in part because gas-tax revenues were down. "We're all in very tough fiscal times in this state," he said. "The highway fund has fallen on hard times."

The Highway Patrol budget for fiscal 2008 is $19.4 million. The governor's proposed fiscal 2009 budget would be $18.2 million. That's a reduction of just $1.2 million, because of pay raises for state employees and a transfer of three jobs from another department into the patrol.

Rounds said Wednesday evening that the suggested cuts were developed by state Highway Patrol officials in Pierre after he asked for ways to save money within the agency. He said the plan calls for troopers' patrol cars to be driven to 125,000 miles but also to be carefully maintained to assure their safety in the event of a high-speed chase.

Sobriety checkpoints won't be affected by the cuts because their funding comes from another source, Rounds said.

The governor said he is willing to talk about restoring the $2 million to the Highway Patrol budget if Abdallah identifies a source of revenue to cover that money in the budget.

"If the senator can find the money, I'd like to work with him," Rounds said. "But so far, I haven't seen a revenue source."

Kevin Woster contributed to this story.

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com