PIERRE, S.D.(KELO & HubCityRadio)-  The Summer Study dealing with the topic of County Funding & Services held their first session on Wednesday.

Chair of the committee is Representative Roger Chase of Huron.  Chase talks about why he wanted to be on this committee.

The Vice-Chair is State Senator Randy Deibert of Spearfish.

The group received an update on COVID-19 money received by the state from the federal government.

Joel Knofczynski, fiscal analyst with the Legislative Research Council talks about the money received from the CARES Act passed in 2020.

Knofczynski discuss the money received from the American Rescue Plan Act passed in 2021.

The group also heard from Auditor General, Russell Olson who presented data from 2009-19 and explained why he did it.

Olson talks about how important it is for them to do audits for each county.

Olson also comment on concerns about the cost for a county to maintain a jail system.

Secretary for the Department of Revenue, Michael Houdyshell(Howdy-shell) discuss the role property taxes play in the counties.

Houdyshell breaks down how the property taxes are used to pay for funding in the counties.

The focus of the afternoon session was on the judicial and legal issues counties are dealing with.

Dan Nelson, President of the South Dakota  State’s Attorney Association told the group the majority of state attorneys are there just part-time.

Nelson was asked about Senate Bill 70 dealing with County reimbursement from the state.

Shelley Ackerman with the South Dakota Sheriffs Association talked about the cost of sending someone to jail.

Ackerman also talks about the cost on juvenile detention.

The second Summer Study on County Funding & Services will take place on Wednesday, July 12th.