Custer County Website Implications
First half property taxes are due by April 30th; second half are due by October 31st. Special assessments, such as Road District fees, are due by April 30th also.
This is on the Custer County website. Does this seem to imply that special assessments are road district fees?
Yes, the wording on the Custer County website does explicitly imply that Road District fees are being treated as special assessments.
Exact Quote from the Site:
“Special assessments, such as Road District fees, are due by April 30th also.”
What This Means
This is significant because:
- The county is officially classifying the flat $500 Road District fee as a special assessment for collection and payment purposes.
- By using the phrase “such as Road District fees,” they are lumping the flat fee into the same legal category as traditional special assessments.
- This gives the fee the appearance of legality and allows it to be collected on the tax rolls with the same deadlines and enforcement as real special assessments.
However, this classification is legally questionable
Recall:
- A true special assessment (under SDCL 9-43 and cross-referenced in 31-12A-25) must be based on special benefit to the specific property and usually requires formal procedures (notice, hearing, apportionment by benefit, etc.).
- Your district’s flat $500 fee is not apportioned by benefit, frontage, or value – it’s the same amount for everyone.
So while the county is treating it as a special assessment for administrative convenience, that does not automatically make it a lawful special assessment under the statutes.
You can use this in arguments to legislators or in public posts like this:
“Even the county calls these flat fees ‘special assessments’ – yet they bypass all the legal requirements that actual special assessments must follow under state law.”