District 5 Rep. Matt Roby Discusses Lake Area Tech Funding, Property Taxes, and Data Centers in Watertown Interview
Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - Incumbent South Dakota District 5 House Representative Matt Roby joined Northeast Radio SD on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, to discuss his re-election campaign, unfinished legislative priorities for Watertown, property tax relief, and data center regulations ahead of the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election.
First elected in 2024, Roby has completed one full term representing District 5 across the 2025 and 2026 legislative sessions. During those two years, Roby served on the House Local Government and Judiciary committees and was the prime sponsor on 12 bills signed into law by the governor.
Background and Path to the Legislature
Born and raised in Watertown to parents Rick and Ann Roby, he attended college and earned his law degree from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. He returned to South Dakota to begin his legal career in the Attorney General’s Office in Pierre, handling criminal prosecution, appellate work, and civil litigation.
In 2013, Roby moved back to Watertown, where he worked in private legal practice and the insurance industry before serving as Watertown City Attorney from 2017 to 2022. For the past four years, he has worked at an institutional investment management firm. Roby and his wife, Stephanie, a physician assistant at the local hospital, have four children ages 11, nine, seven, and three.
Roby credited a lifelong exposure to civic engagement—including his grandfather’s service as Watertown mayor and a state senator in the 1980s—along with encouragement from colleagues when former House Speaker Hugh Bartels was term-limited, for his decision to seek office.
“I didn’t run on any sort of, you know, one issue or anything like that,” Roby said. “It’s really just the mentality of trying to make this place that, you know, has given so much to me, Watertown in South Dakota, and try to give back in some way.”
Lake Area Tech Expansion and Constituent Legislation
Pointing to unfinished business as a central motivator for seeking a second term, Roby highlighted ongoing efforts to secure state support for Lake Area Technical College. While he carried a successful bill during his first year providing equipment funding for South Dakota’s technical colleges, a subsequent one-time spending bill to help fund the next phase of Lake Area Tech’s strategic plan fell four votes short of the required two-thirds majority in the House last session after four supportive lawmakers were absent due to emergencies or family matters.
The proposed model combines funding from the state, the school, and Lake Area Tech’s industry partners to build out capacity for high-demand programs. Roby noted that the funding is being requested for inclusion in the governor’s upcoming budget; if not included there, he plans to carry a standalone bill again in January.
Alongside K-12 and technical education, Roby identified affordability and public safety—specifically criminal justice and victims’ rights—as top issues emerging from recent conversations with District 5 voters. He stated he has met with at least a half-dozen constituents over the past two to three months to review potential legislative fixes through the Legislative Research Council.
“Sometimes it’s just making little tweaks in the law because this unintended consequence is occurring,” Roby said. “And a lot of times those don’t get the headlines, but knowing specifically you’ve helped a couple of people because of this little nuance in the law that maybe wasn’t drafted correctly is very, very rewarding.”
Data Centers and Local Control
Addressing statewide discussions surrounding data centers and artificial intelligence, Roby drew a distinction between traditional business server facilities and massive “hyperscale” developments.
He pointed to the legislature’s passage of the Data Center Bill of Rights last session, which establishes core requirements for prospective developers:
· Infrastructure and Utilities: Developers must pay their own way for infrastructure, verify an adequate water supply that does not impact local water availability, and ensure higher electricity rates are not passed on to existing customers.
· Local Control: County commissions and city councils retain final authority to approve or reject projects based on local zoning, utility capacity, or community preference, overriding any state mandate.
“If you, as a local county commission, city council, et cetera, you decide as your community comes together in community meetings that we don’t have the place for it, we don’t have the electricity for it, we don’t have the water for it, whatever, or we just don’t want it here for whatever reason that might be, that the local government, local communities will get to make that decision,” Roby said.
Property Taxes, Housing Supply, and the State Budget
On property taxes, Roby noted that post-COVID real estate jumps drove steep valuation increases across parts of South Dakota. He reminded voters that 100 percent of property tax revenue stays local to fund schools, counties, municipalities, and townships, noting that roughly 80 percent of county government duties—such as road maintenance, law enforcement, and criminal prosecution—are mandated by state law.
Because South Dakota operates on a constitutionally mandated balanced budget without large spending pools to cut, Roby said lawmakers focused on two primary property tax relief mechanisms last session:
1. County Option Sales Tax: Legislation allowing individual counties to pursue a local sales tax option to offset property taxes, an approach currently on the local ballot.
2. State Sales Tax Sunset Redirect: Directing revenue from the upcoming expiration of the statewide 4.2 percent sales tax sunset—scheduled to return to 4.5 percent next year—toward property tax relief rather than general state coffers.
Regarding housing affordability, Roby advocated for an “all of the above” approach to increase housing supply across all price points, referencing local lower-price-point home construction near the Watertown airport by developer Bill Riefenberger as well as broader market growth.
Election Information and Amendment K
With Election Day set for Tuesday, Nov. 3, Roby encouraged residents to cast their ballots early at the Codington County Courthouse on Friday or Monday, or at their designated polling places on Tuesday.
He also encouraged voters to support Constitutional Amendment K on the statewide ballot. Passed unanimously by the legislature with no opposing ballot statement, Amendment K establishes a constitutional trust fund for unclaimed property to protect the state from financial liability while generating revenue to supplement the state budget.
Constituents with questions ahead of Tuesday’s election can reach Roby directly by cell phone at 605-881-4949 or via legislative email at matt.roby@sdlegislature.gov.
This interview was paid for by Friends of Matt Roby for House.
