Codington County Commissioners Weigh 2027 Budget Cuts, Court-Appointed Attorney Costs in Watertown

Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - The Codington County Commissioners continued their fiscal planning for 2027 on Tuesday, taking a close look at line items for commission operations, contingency funds, court-appointed attorneys, and soil conservation.

A central highlight of the presentation was a proposed $100,000 reduction in the county’s court-appointed attorney budget, paired with debate over public transparency and commissioner compensation.

Public Defense Costs and Contingency Adjustments

Commissioner Lee Gabel outlined a proposal to reduce the court-appointed attorney budget from its 2026 level of $890,000 down by $100,000 for 2027. The proposed cut hinges on expectations that a newly created public defender assistant position will streamline caseload management and reduce billable legal hours.

“We budgeted 890,000 [for 2026],” Gabel noted during the review. “I’m proposing we budget $100,000 less... in anticipation that the public defender assistant position is going to help us shave off some of those costs.”

Commissioner Myron Johnson expressed frustration over the high ongoing costs of public defense despite the planned reduction.

“You can cut $100,000 out of it, but it’s still out of hand, plain and simple,” Johnson said. “That’s ridiculous that we pay that much for court-appointed attorneys.”

To balance potential fluctuations in legal fees and other unexpected expenses, Gabel proposed increasing the commissioner contingency fund by $20,000.

“Just to kind of hedge the bets a little bit... mostly because this is to deal with those unpredictable things that crop up,” Gabel explained.

Commission Operations, Salaries, and Online Ordinances

In reviewing the core Board of Commissioners budget, Gabel recommended keeping commissioner salaries flat with a 0% pay raise for 2027.

Gabel also suggested setting aside professional services funds to hire a consultant to digitize county ordinances and make them user-friendly on the county website, citing the navigation model used by the South Dakota Legislature.

“Right now it’s very hard for county residents to see [or] get a hold of the county ordinances,” Gabel said. “I thought it would be a good idea to budget that so somebody could take the ball and run with it in the next year.”

Johnson raised caution regarding the cost and practical need for the project.

“The only thing that I was referring to... is it a need or is it a want?” Johnson asked. “This is a pretty good size budget that we’re looking at this year, and I’m just concerned about the people that are paying the taxes... Just trying to be frugal.”

Johnson added that planning and zoning officials had previously suggested residents call the courthouse directly so ordinances could be explained accurately. However, Chair Troy VanDusen and Gabel argued that maintaining updated digital records online promotes government transparency while ensuring published records match official courthouse books.

Additional items discussed within the commissioner line items included:

·         Publishing Costs: Held steady at $35,000, matching current fiscal year allocations.

·         IT and Operations Expenses: Increased to $121,000 to account for expanded county infrastructure—including the new county jail and Codington Connects facilities—alongside software contracts and association dues for NACO and SDACC.

·         Benefits Baseline: Insurance and supplemental retirement figures were calculated under the assumption that all five board members select full family coverage plans to ensure maximum budget availability.

Soil Conservation

The commission briefly confirmed that the annual budget request submitted by the local Soil Conservation District had been formally received by County Auditor Brenda Hanten and integrated into the initial 2027 budget framework.

The board will continue reviewing department budget requests ahead of formal budget adoption in September.

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