Administrative Assistant: The Fall River County Treasurer’s Office is accepting applications for a full-time administrative assistant. Applicant must have the ability to work well with others, good organizational, computer & customer service skills, and the ability to lift up to 30 lbs.

Starting wage is $10.00/hour with full benefits: paid health & dental insurance; vacation, holiday and sick leave; and South Dakota Retirement. Position is 40 hours a week, hours are 8-5, Monday – Friday. Apply at the Treasurer’s Office at 906 N River St. (605-745-5145). Position open until filled.

See employment page for application and other available jobs.

The Fall River County Director of Equalization (DOE) has mailed the assessment notices for 2017.  Notices were mailed March 1st and should be received within the week.  If you do not receive your assessment notice please contact their office at 605-745-5136.

Items to check on your assessment notice:

1. Property Class: all properties are classed as Agricultural (AG), Non-Agricultural (NA), or Owner Occupied (OO).
2. Assessment Value: this is the value that the DOE believes you could sell this property for on the open market.
3. Legal Description: if a new plat was filed for a property before November of 2016 check to see that the legal description was update.

If there are issues with any of the above or issues involving owner name or contact information please contact the DOE office before March 16th (for Oelrichs, Argentine, Provo) or before April 4th (for remainder of county including Hot Springs and Edgemont.)

The value listed on your 2017 assessment notice will be used to compute your tax bill that will be delivered in January of 2018. Remember, it is not possible to appeal your taxes, if your assessed value is too high you must appeal NOW to get your taxes lowered for 2018.

A school land lease auction will be held in the Fall River County Courthouse, basement meeting room in Hot Springs, SD on March 31, 2017 at 2:00PM (MT).

A list of tracts available for lease may be obtained at the Fall River County Auditor’s Office or by contacting the Office of School & Public Lands at (605) 773-3303. You may also visit the SPL website www.sdpubliclands.com.    For more information contact Mike Cornelison, Office of School & Public Lands, 500 E Capitol Avenue, Pierre, SD  57501-5070 or phone (605)773-4172.  Disabled individuals needing assistance should contact the Office of School and Public Lands at least 48 hours in advance of the auction to make any necessary arrangements.

Land List for Auction

Terms & Conditions Ag Lease

Terms & Conditions Grazing Lease

2017 AUM Rate

Understanding Taxes Presentation

The link above presents several interactive maps that display answers to a variety of questions that are often raised regarding where taxes come from and where they go in Fall River County.

HOT SPRINGS, S.D. – In regards to the press release issued Thursday, Feb 9. 2017 from the South Dakota Department of Public Safety announcing the State 9-1-1 Board’s vote to withhold payment to Comtech due to issues with the NextGen 9-1-1 system.

Fall River County Dispatch (the PSAP located in Hot Springs, SD) has not yet switched to the NextGen system and is therefore unaffected by the issues being addressed in that press release. Fall River County Dispatch is not scheduled to switch to the new system until later this year.

Original State News Release:

Subject: State 9-1-1 Board Votes to Withhold Payment to Vendor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, Feb. 9. 2017

Contact: Tony Mangan, Public Information Officer, 605-773-6196

State 9-1-1 Board Votes to Withhold Payment to Vendor

PIERRE, S.D. – South Dakota’s 9-1-1 Coordination Board voted Thursday to withhold payment to the vendor who has been hired to upgrade the state’s 9-1-1 emergency communications system.

Payment to NextGen Communications, Inc. (Comtech) of Annapolis, MD is being withheld effective immediately. The current contract calls for the state to pay Comtech $259,000 a month for its work on the system.

Since 2015, the state has paid Comtech $7.4 million to design, build and maintain a statewide Next Generation 9-1-1 system. The new 9-1-1 system will equip all of the state’s 28 Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) with Next Generation (NEXTGEN) 9-1-1 technology.  This new technology will allow the PSAPs to share information and data easier, provide back up to one another and eventually accept text to 9-1-1 messages when a phone call to 9-1-1 isn’t possible.

The phase one work of installing a new phone system has been done at 19 PSAPs so far and this phase is scheduled to be completed this year. But in a letter to Comtech sent today (Feb. 9), the 9-1-1 Coordination Board stated that Comtech has been slow to fix several recurring problems found within the system.

“While the state understands there will be trouble tickets submitted over time by each PSAP, the recurring frequency of these issues is unacceptable,” the letter reads. “Comtech must resolve these specific items and provide the state with an explanation of how it was resolved and provide assurance the system as deployed will work as designed.”

The letter says monthly payment will be withheld until such time as the listed items are resolved to the satisfaction of the state.

While there have been problems in some areas, the board stresses that the 9-1-1 system still functions statewide.

“None of the PSAPs are without service and 9-1-1 emergency calls are being answered,” says state 9-1-1 Coordinator Shawnie Rechtenbaugh. “But for the new system to work as it should, Comtech needs to fix these recurring problems. It has been a frustrating situation that has lingered for several months and the board believed it had to act.”

PSAPS are located in: Aberdeen, Belle Fourche, Britton, Brookings, Canton, Custer, Deadwood, Elk Point, Flandreau, Hot Springs, Howard, Huron, Lake Andes, Madison, Mitchell, Mobridge, Pierre, Rapid City, Redfield, Sioux Falls, Sisseton, Spearfish, Sturgis, Tyndall, Vermillion, Watertown, Winner and Yankton

The 9-1-1 Coordination Board is part of the South Dakota Department of Public Safety.