The County Auditor’s Role: Gatekeeper of an Unauthorized “Special Maintenance Fee”?
A fundamental principle of government in any County is that local officials must adhere to state statutes. When it comes to road districts, South Dakota Codified Law (SDCL) Chapter 31-12A outlines the powers available for funding maintenance. This chapter provides for specific tools, such as tax levies or special assessments, which are subject to public oversight and statutory limits.
However, a question of county-wide significance has emerged: Are road districts across this County bypassing these legal mechanisms entirely by utilizing an unauthorized “special maintenance fee”?
This is not a question of semantics. A “fee” often implies a charge for a service rendered, while a “levy” or “assessment” is a formal tax collection with defined legal requirements for public input, voting, and oversight.
Reports from multiple districts suggest a pattern where this County Auditor’s office has been processing a “special maintenance fee” for the majority of districts. The issue at hand is the potential lack of a statutory basis for this “fee” within the powers granted to these special purpose districts. If the auditor is accepting these fees without requiring proof of the necessary public meetings or votes mandated by state law for a proper levy, it creates a significant financial liability for the county as a whole.
This process appears to have created a “closed loop” where accountability has become lost:
- The Districts collect revenue outside of the established legal framework.
- The Auditor’s Office processes these requests without apparent verification of compliance.
- The State’s Attorney’s Office allegedly declines to intervene, claiming that long-standing non-compliance has become “accepted procedure.”
The result is a system where taxpayers across this County may be unknowingly funding services through unauthorized means. The question for local residents is clear: does your road district use a legally sanctioned “levy” or an undocumented “fee”?
Understanding the difference is the first step in ensuring financial accountability in your County.