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Senate passes bill letting sheriffs charge optional fees, mileage for service of process
Summary
The South Dakota Senate on Jan. 23 passed Senate Bill 5, allowing counties to authorize sheriffs to charge an optional fee up to $50 and a mileage option (fixed $10 or $0.08 per mile) for service of process to reduce taxpayer subsidy of private collection activity.
The South Dakota Senate on Jan. 23 passed Senate Bill 5, an amended measure that gives county sheriffs the option to charge a fee for satisfied or unsatisfied service of process.
The bill’s sponsor, Senator Duhamel, told colleagues the change is intended to stop taxpayers from subsidizing out-of-state private collection firms that send unservable papers and rely on sheriff offices to absorb the cost. “This is asking those who pay ask for the service to pay for the service, not the taxpayer as is the case right now,” Senator Duhamel said.
Under the amendment described on the floor, counties choosing to adopt the authority could permit an optional fee of up to $50 and choose a mileage option of either a fixed $10 or the state mileage rate of $0.08 per mile. Duhamel said those options give both geographically large and small counties flexibility to recover costs.
Duhamel cited county-specific examples to quantify the fiscal impact. He said Pennington County’s costs could amount to about $138,000 and Minnehaha County’s near $150,000 under current practice, figures he presented as examples of taxpayer expense.
Senator Grove, who said she listened to the committee hearing and heard testimony from her county sheriff, added that smaller counties also lose revenue; she cited Hughes County losses “like $12 to $15,000.”
After brief remarks, the Senate voted to pass the bill. The secretary reported 32 yays and three excused; the bill was declared passed and the title deemed correct.
The measure allows counties to adopt the fee and mileage options; it does not itself require counties to charge fees. No formal implementation timeline was specified during floor remarks.
