Recent Saddleback Road District meeting minutes stated:

“While statute SDCL 9-43-138 assigns the Trustees the responsibility of passing an annual resolution to set the annual maintenance levy…”

There is a major legal problem with that statement:

SDCL 9-43-138 does not mention road districts.

It applies specifically to municipalities.

The statute states:

“The governing body of any municipality may…”

A road district is not a municipality.

That distinction matters because governmental entities only possess powers granted to them by statute.

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What SDCL 31-12A-25 Actually Says

Road districts often point to:
South Dakota Codified Laws § 31-12A-25

which states that certain road district proceedings shall be governed:

“to the extent applicable”
by portions of municipal law, including Chapter 9-43.

But there is a huge difference between:

• borrowing procedural guidance,
  and
• importing entirely new governmental powers.

Nothing in SDCL 31-12A-25 explicitly states:

• road districts become municipalities,
• road districts inherit all municipal powers,
  or
• municipal fee authority automatically transfers to trustees.

Under strict statutory construction and Dillon’s Rule principles, powers are not supposed to appear through implication or broad interpretation.

If the Legislature intends to grant a governmental body authority to impose a new fee or tax structure, it generally says so directly.

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South Dakota’s Own Department of Revenue Treats These as Different Things

This issue becomes even clearer when reviewing guidance published by the South Dakota Department of Revenue and the South Dakota Municipal League.

In its published guide discussing local government financing mechanisms, the document separately defines:

• Special Assessments
  and
• Maintenance Fees.

The guide states:

“Special Assessments are a financing mechanism that allow payment for improvements by those who benefit, or for specific items, rather than general taxation.”

Then separately states:

“Maintenance Fees (see page 8) are fees that municipalities are allowed to charge for maintenance of improvements. This Guide will deal with both items.”

That wording is extremely important.

The State’s own published guidance clearly recognizes:

• Special Assessments
  and
• Special Maintenance Fees

as separate legal concepts.

If they were the same thing, there would be no reason to distinguish between them.

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Why This Matters

Road districts unquestionably possess authority under South Dakota law to:

• levy taxes,
  and
• impose special assessments.

But the unresolved legal question is whether road districts also possess authority to impose:

• municipal-style flat maintenance fees.

Those are not automatically the same thing.

And the State’s own published guidance appears to acknowledge that distinction.

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The Core Legal Question

The issue is not whether roads should be maintained.

The issue is whether:

• a road district may exercise powers granted specifically to municipalities,
  without
• express legislative authorization.

Because under Dillon’s Rule principles, governmental entities are supposed to possess:

• only powers expressly granted,
• powers necessarily implied,
  or
• powers indispensable to carrying out statutory duties.

Not powers discovered through expansive interpretation of cross-referenced statutes.

That distinction matters because once governmental bodies begin broadly interpreting statutes to enlarge their own authority, the statutory limits protecting property owners begin to disappear.