We need auditors in South Dakota! We need our sheriff’s department to be challenged on their stance that public records are not really public records. For that matter, how many other offices have refused to provide public records and we’ve found NO support from the Office of Hearing Examiners. And the only way to go forward is Pro Se.
In a healthy county, when two people who have actually seen the “sausage being made” come forward with documented evidence of illegal bylaws and unauthorized taxes, we call them whistleblowers. In the “Closed Loop” of our county, we call them “annoyed troublemakers.” Our local State’s Attorney has apparently pioneered a bold new legal theory: If…
Beyond the sales tax swap and owner-occupied exemptions, several states use alternative “guardrail” systems to provide property tax relief. These models, some of which are already being debated in South Dakota for 2026, focus on capping the growth of taxes rather than just changing who pays them. Acting on the verification that today is January…
A county can collect millions of dollars for ten years through fees that have no basis in state law. Yet, their likely defense is simple: “We thought we were doing it right.” This is the central flaw in South Dakota’s oversight system. The defense of “good faith error”—often used as a legal shield—means that as…
To understand why your local road district feels like a “shadow government,” you have to look back to 1977. That was the year the South Dakota Legislature passed SDCL 31-12A, the primary chapter governing the formation and operation of road districts. At the time, the law was written with a “neighborly” intent. It was designed…
In our previous post, we exposed the “Good Standing” scam—how local road boards use illegal bylaws to block landowners from running for office, in direct violation of SDCL 31-12A-1.1. But there is a much larger question: Where are the adults in the room? In XXXXX County, the “Closed Loop” isn’t just about a rogue road…
Property taxes have become a four-letter word in South Dakota. Across the state, residents are staring down assessment notices that seem to climb every year, leading to a palpable frustration that is now the central issue of the 2026 election cycle. The question is no longer if we need property tax relief, but how we…