PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — South Dakota Agriculture Secretary Kim Vanneman said Wednesday her department won’t do a customer survey that the Legislature’s Government Operations and Audit Committee had wanted, unless lawmakers pay for it. 

“Just the cost to implement that is the problem,” she told GOAC members. 

Vanneman, who served six years in the state House of Representatives, said another state department was paying “like $215,000 a year” for a survey and analysis of data. She didn’t identify the department.

“Our agency is just so diverse,” Vanneman said. “The makeup of our department makes it more difficult than anything.” 

She said the department received feedback from a survey at the 2019 State Fair. The department oversees a wide variety of programs. 

Lawmakers wanted the survey to be one of the department’s reporting requirements.

Senator John Wiik, a Big Stone City Republican, asked the committee to instead accept the secretary’s report and set aside the survey idea. The panel voted 6-2 to accept Wiik’s motion.