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Auditor seeks county vehicle and elections software; budget committee recommends trimming outside-agency dues
Summary
Auditor Sherry Lund requested a county vehicle and a $2,500 election-worker tracking subscription; the budget committee recommended zeroing discretionary dues to several regional economic-development groups and holding outside-agency funding at 2025 levels while designing a competitive process for 2027.
Lincoln County Auditor Sherry Lund presented budget requests that included an annual $2,500 subscription to manage election workers and a request for a county vehicle to support out-of-county travel and precinct work. Lund said she has used her personal vehicle for election duties and that a shared county vehicle would reduce that burden.
"When I put the request in for the budget for the vehicle, it's not just the auditor's vehicle," Lund said, explaining the proposal for a county-use vehicle available for the auditor, treasurer, register of deeds and other department heads when out-of-county travel requires larger or shared transportation.
Commissioners and public commenters pressed Lund for an inventory and utilization analysis of the county motor pool before purchasing. Public commenter Linda Montgomery asked how many county vehicles exist, who maintains them and whether a centralized motor pool is viable; commissioners asked for further detail on availability and alternatives to buying new vehicles.
Paul Anderson, commission administrative assistant, presented Budget Committee recommendations for outside-agency funding. The committee proposed zeroing discretionary dues to several large economic-development entities (Canton Chamber of Commerce; Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce; Sioux Falls Development Foundation; Sioux Metro Growth Alliance; Forward Sioux Falls) for the 2026 proposed budget, and proposed holding other non-statutory outside-agency allocations at their 2025 levels while establishing a competitive allocation process to begin for the 2027 budget cycle.
On libraries, Anderson said the committee proposed equal allocations of $5,000 per library for six libraries the county funds (Beresford, Lennox, Hudson, Harrisburg, Tea and Canton), bringing the total to $30,000 for the countywide library line. Several commissioners questioned equal per-library grants and suggested allocation based on usage metrics rather than a flat per-library payment.
No formal votes were taken on the auditor's vehicle request or the budget committee's recommendations; commissioners asked staff to prepare additional analysis on vehicle availability, fleet utilization and alternative approaches before formal budget adoption.
