For the sixth consecutive year the Hill City School Board of Education (HCSBE) has achieved Gold Level Status from the Associated School Boards of South Dakota (ASBSD). This year the board has taken its successful record to the next level, earning the prestigious 2025 School Board Award of Excellence, the highest distinction a school board can receive in the state.
Superintendent Blake Gardner surprised the board with the announcement at the July school board meeting on the 14th.
Pennington County Commissioners have approved a $132,234,641 provisional budget for the upcoming fiscal year, just shy of the $132,327,295 provisional budget of Minnehaha County.
Commissioner Jerry Derr referenced that Minnehaha was making substantial cuts to its budget with commissioner Gary Drewes saying he has heard they are “preparing for the future” with a concern over property taxes being cut statewide.
The provisional Pennington County 2026 budget is up 1.4 percent over last year.
The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that President Donald Trump will come to Keystone in 2026. The confirmation came from Sgt. Amanda Swanson as she spoke with the Keystone Town Board at its July 23 meeting. Swanson spoke about the visit after being asked about the recent visit of vice president JD Vance.
“President Trump is coming next year. That will be another busy time,” said Swanson, who has already been talking to the town board about the visit. “I’m sure you guys will be very busy next summer.”
Feeding South Dakota is the first of what could be multiple nonprofits asking the Legislature for help to recover from federal funding cuts.
Executive Director Lori Dykstra requested $3 million in one-time funds at the legislative Appropriations Committee meeting Wednesday in Pierre to offset 1.5 million pounds of food no longer being provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture since March.
Four entities came before the Hill City Common Council (HCCC) at its first budget hearing July 10. The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) is asking for a flat five percent increase on all its contract towns, which includes Hill City.
In addition, PCSO will ask the Pennington County Commission for a wage increase for its deputies, according to sheriff Brian Mueller, who came before the HCCC.
Code of conduct and open meeting laws were discussed at the July 14 Hill City Common Council (HCCC) meeting. City attorney Nathan Chicoine led the discussion, prompted by a new law requiring review of open meeting laws, which became effective July 1. Chicoine explained to council members that they should be cautious of getting together outside of regularly scheduled council meetings.
The Hill City School District Board of Education’s (HCSDBE) July meeting served as the final meeting of the 2024-25 school year and the inaugural meeting for the 2025-26 year, while reorganizing and swearing in re-elected members for their next term and recognizing board achievements.
The South Dakota Comprehensive Property Tax Task Force 2025 met at the School of Mines in Rapid City July 20. The message from the meeting was very clear—there is no one size fits all for South Dakota when it comes to fiscal issues.
The meeting began with a discussion amongst committee members about Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, with Sen. Taffy Howard, R-District 34, taking repeated jabs at Rapid City for its continued use of the concept.
About 30 people were at the Monument in Rapid City July 15 to hear about the proposed Pennington County Jail Expansion project.
After 14 months of design and five initial options, there are now only two options on the table—Option B, adding 296 beds in two housing floors, or Option C, which is Option B plus two additional shelled floors for future growth.
Pennington County Sheriff Brian Mueller said, “I think that on the current course that we’re looking at if we had two finished floors that would be 2040” when the jail would reach capacity.
The body of 23-year-old Jaden White Plume of Box Elder was recovered between 10:30 and 11 p.m. the night of July 12 at Hippie Hole outside of Keystone.
