News

Celebrate the 150th birthday of Custer Aug. 10

Published by admin on Wed, 08/06/2025 - 12:49pm

Celebrate the 150th birthday of Custer City Sunday, Aug. 10, from 2-4 p.m. with the Custer County Historical Society the 1881 Courthouse Museum. Activities will include the reading of a proclamation, raffle drawing, kid’s activities and, of course, birthday cake and ice cream. 

Hill City locks up prison decision

Published by admin on Wed, 08/06/2025 - 10:21am
Aldermen did not mince words at the July 28 Hill City Common Council meeting as they said a hard no thank you to the idea of submitting a proposal for a state prison in Hill City.
Mayor Tana Nichols thanked Rep. Tim Goodwin for his presentation at the last Hill City Common Council (HCCC) meeting but said “we will not be pursuing the idea at this time.”

School board receives top state award

Published by admin on Wed, 08/06/2025 - 10:19am
For the sixth consecutive year  the Hill City School Board of Education (HCSBE) has achieved Gold Level Status from the Associated School Boards of South Dakota (ASBSD). This year the board has taken its successful record to the next level, earning the prestigious 2025 School Board Award of Excellence, the highest distinction a school board can receive in the state.
Superintendent Blake Gardner surprised the board with the announcement at the July school board meeting on the 14th.

Provisional county budget tops $132 million

Published by admin on Wed, 08/06/2025 - 10:15am
Pennington County  Commissioners have approved a  $132,234,641 provisional budget for the upcoming fiscal year, just shy of the $132,327,295 provisional budget of Minnehaha County.
Commissioner Jerry Derr referenced that Minnehaha was making substantial cuts to its budget with commissioner Gary  Drewes saying he has heard they are “preparing for the future” with a concern over property taxes being cut statewide. 
The  provisional Pennington County 2026 budget is up 1.4 percent over last year.

President Trump expected at Mount Rushmore next July 4

Published by admin on Wed, 07/30/2025 - 9:43am
The Pennington County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that President Donald Trump will  come to Keystone in 2026. The confirmation came from Sgt. Amanda Swanson as she spoke with the Keystone Town Board at its July 23 meeting. Swanson spoke about the visit after being asked about the recent visit of vice president JD Vance.
“President Trump is coming next year. That will be another busy time,” said Swanson, who has already been talking to the town board about the visit. “I’m sure you guys will be very busy next summer.”

Feeding South Dakota requests $3 million from legislature

Published by admin on Wed, 07/30/2025 - 9:34am
Feeding South Dakota is the first of what could be multiple nonprofits asking the Legislature for help to recover from federal funding cuts.
Executive Director Lori Dykstra requested $3 million in one-time funds at the legislative Appropriations Committee meeting Wednesday in Pierre to offset 1.5 million pounds of food no longer being provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture since March.

WWTP delay costing city $20k, possibly more

Published by admin on Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:55am
A delay in the startup of the City of Custer’s wastewater treatment plant to its new discharge location is costing the city thousands of dollars, it was learned at the July 21 meeting of the Custer City Council.

West Dam work to resume in September

Published by admin on Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:47am
If you’re among those who heard the work on West Dam stopped in June due to a lack of funding, you heard wrong.
The reasons the work stopped are two that are familiar to Custer—golf and tourism.
Contractors working on the second phase of the project—the removal of 100,000 cubic yards of silt and material out of the reservoir—actually worked a little later into June than initially anticipated, and will resume work earlier as well. Initially the work was to resume in mid-October, but instead will resume in September.

Task force tasked with diverse state demands

Published by admin on Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:45am
The South Dakota  Comprehensive Property Tax Task Force 2025 met at the School of Mines in Rapid City July 20. The message from the meeting was very clear—there is no “one size fits all” for South Dakota when it comes to fiscal issues.
The meeting began with a discussion amongst committee members about Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, with Sen. Taffy Howard, R-District 34, taking repeated jabs at Rapid City for its continued use of the concept. 

Delay, additional cost for West Dam project

Published by admin on Wed, 07/30/2025 - 8:44am
A late geotechnical discovery by the engineering firm working on the West Dam reconstruction for the City of Custer will add to the overall cost of the project, it was revealed at the July 21 meeting of the Custer City Council.