West River Eagle

This is how I picture it

The Eagle Butte city council…business as usual


For the last four years, I’ve called into question actions undertaken by the Eagle Butte city council. From illegal executive sessions, lack of minutes, to the council’s salary and term limits.


New council members promised things would change but it appears it’s business as usual at city hall.


Last week, the Eagle Butte city council met. Among items of business was the publication of city salaries. This includes the council’s salary, which they made no change to. They get $500 a month for the regular monthly meeting and $250 for each special meeting they call. The $500 is paid regardless of attendance; the special meeting allowance is paid if the council member attends. There was a change to the mayor’s salary, dropping to $833 per month. The mayor will just get a flat amount of $833, with no additional compensation for a regular or special meeting as it was in the past. 


The elected official’s salary of Eagle Butte is amongst the highest in South Dakota, including municipalities with populations twice as big, even ten times that of Eagle Butte’s.


If you remember two years ago, the council voted to change the term limits to five years. FIVE YEARS! That’s half a decade. By doing so, the make up of the council is guaranteed to not change for four years, as some terms are staggered. If anybody wants to run for council, they will have to wait four years, or for someone to resign.


As I pointed out in a previous editorial, the turnover rate of council members is too high to justify a five-year term.


With a guaranteed five-year term, and a guaranteed minimum of $500 a month, these council members are guaranteed to take home a minimum of $30,000 (not counting special meetings) over five-year tenure. With the average meeting lasting 2.5 hours, that is $200 an hour (and I thought lawyers were high). Of course there are the occasional committee meetings council members attend, though those are not compensated they do go with the job.


With the mayor’s salary dropping to $833 per month, over five years the total compensation is $49,980. Combined, the elected officials will be paid $229,980, almost a quarter of a million dollars. 


Last week, Ward III council member Dale Lesmeister made a motion to change the term limits back to two-year staggered terms.  Ward II councilman John Bachman seconded that motion bringing it to a vote.


I was optimistic that if the council voted to go back to the two-year terms, it would be a step in the right direction, a chance to make right missteps from the past. However I was greatly surprised that the motion was shot down by a vote of 4-2.


When city residents show up with concerns about snow removal, and the answer they get is that the city doesn’t have the money and can’t afford to provide certain services, I think I know where they can find the money.


This brings me to my next concern. South Dakota Codified Law 9-21-2 is the annual appropriation ordinance. It spells out the timeframe and dates that a municipality must submit an annual budget for publication. It reads “The governing body of each municipality shall, no later than its first regular meeting in September of each year or within ten days thereafter, introduce the annual appropriation ordinance for the ensuing fiscal year, in which it shall appropriate the sums of money necessary to meet all lawful expenses and liabilities of the municipality. The ordinance shall specify the function and subfunction as prescribed by the Department of Legislative Audit for which the appropriations are made and the amount appropriated for each function and subfunction, which amount shall be appropriated from the proper fund. It is not necessary to appropriate revenue to be expended from an enterprise or trust and agency fund if the fund is not supported or subsidized by revenue derived from the annual appropriated tax levy. However, an annual budget for these funds shall be developed and published no later than December thirty-first of each year. Published in the official newspaper on record.


Last year’s 2016 budget as required by law was to be released and published by December 31 of 2015. However no budget was received or approved by the council. In fact only one budget (2014) has been published since I started in 2012. Also just for the record, the 2017 budget was never received and published by December 31, 2016. 


At last week’s meeting the council voted and approved a 2016 supplemental appropriation.


Where is that 2016 budget? How can they appropriate funds to a budget they didn’t approve and that was never published?


These are some serious questions; the city residents deserve some serious answers.



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