Special Maintenance Fee

Let’s get into it.

As you may recall, the shyster lawyer made a bunch of frivolous motions. The answer to the complaint stated that the road district never imposed a special assessment. Never. It has only imposed a levy.

He said that 3 times.

Then we had 5 months of utter nonsense from this guy and our responses.

The very last motion he made stated that it was a Special Maintenance Fee. And that the road district is allowed to impose that because SDCL 31-12A-25 says so. He clearly quoted 9-43.

This is 31-12A-25. Laws applicable to proceedings for constructing roads, borrowing money, making special assessments, and issuing bonds.

All proceedings for constructing and maintaining the roads and the borrowing of money, making of special assessments, and issuing of bonds shall be governed, to the extent applicable, by § 9-12-1 and chapters 9-26, 9-40, 9-43, 9-45, and 9-46.

The key phrase here is shall be governed.

SDCL 9-43 is a chapter on Special Assessments. So, their argument is that it is a levy, not a special assessment, and they can use it because it is in the chapter for special assessments.

The phrase Special Maintenance Fee is found once in that chapter.

9-43-138. Special maintenance fee–Purposes–Exemptions.

The governing body prior to the assessment of real property within the municipality for the next fiscal year, may levy, annually, for the purpose of maintaining or repairing public improvements, a special maintenance fee upon the lots fronting and abutting any improvements within the municipality that are maintained by the municipality. For purposes of this section, the governing body prior to the assessment of real property may, by resolution, elect to treat any of the following lots as not fronting and abutting improvements within the municipality:

(1)    Lots with a tax assessment freeze under chapter 10-6A; or

(2)    Lots classified as agricultural property under § 10-6-110.

The governing body prior to the assessment of real property may, by resolution, designate the lot or portion of lots against which the fee is to be levied and the amount of the fee to be assessed against each lot or portions of lots for such purposes, or may apportion the fee pursuant to § 46A-10B-20. The governing body may directly bill the affected property owner for the fee in a manner determined by the municipality, or the governing body may require the county treasurer to add the fee assessed to the general assessment against the property and certify the fee assessed together with the regular assessment to the county auditor to be collected in the same manner as municipal taxes are collected for general purposes. The fee assessed is subject to review and equalization the same as assessments or taxes for general purposes.

The biggest thing to glean from this statute is the part where is says “The governing body prior to the assessment of real property within the municipality…”

Municipality. In fact the word Municipality is mentioned 5 times.

A road district is not a municipality.

This statute does not pertain to road districts. Period.

But let’s say it did. Just for fun. You know what this statute is describing? A special assessment.

And in order to lawfully impose a special assessment, they’d have to follow the 20 steps. Well, unless we are talking about Custer County. In Custer County, you can just fill out a form. There is no checking to be sure anything is done correctly, or lawfully. Nope.

You can just fill out a special assessment form and tell the county you want X dollars taken from every single landowner, with absolutely no concern as to where the property is in relation to the work being done, nor that anybody agreed to any of this.

In Custer County, you don’t need any meetings, votes, benefit analysis, publications, or notifications to anybody. One single person, the treasurer, can just tell the auditor’s office to take the money… And they do. No questions asked. 🙂

So, fellow pro se litigants, you are not only battling the corrupt local government, but also their shyster lawyer filing nonsense motions and lying through their teeth, and the county and the state.

We didn’t realize the auditor’s office would have sunk us till just after our case was dismissed for jurisdiction. When it is refiled in circuit court, we will be better prepared for the onslaught of nonsense, that is clearly designed to just keep the case from being heard.

Oh, and no way in hell would we subpoena anybody from the Custer County Auditors Office.

Something to note, that I may have mentioned earlier, but bears repeating, is that if you can get a lawyer who is not from your area but still licensed in the state, you may see some benefit. Especially a lawyer from another neighboring state who is licensed in yours.

Why?

We can tell you that the justice system is pretty closed. It’s gated. You cannot come in and play in the justice system without the secret handshake. A lawyer that is not local doesn’t owe anybody anything nor does he have to be overly concerned with the quid quo pro. (I hope you just read that in the voice of Dr. Hannibal Lecter.)

However, keep in mind there is a lot you can do while waiting for your day in court.

Perhaps a blog is not your thing. Think about a YouTube channel, tiktok shorts, or a podcast. Or all of them. There are lots of YouTube channels and podcasts that would be happy to talk with you and help you get your information out to the public.

Keep in mind that people will come out of the woodwork to tell you you need to get a life. That it isn’t ‘neighborly’ to speak your mind. And you can respond with, “Oh, and violating my rights and threatening my home and way of life is?”

Learn the law, Stand on the law. Fight back. Be loud.

Cockroaches scurry away from the bright lights.