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County keeps indigent burial rates, updates community service guidelines and accepts health worker grant
Summary
Codington County left indigent funeral reimbursement rates unchanged, approved updates to community services policies (including a limited lien change and required case management for county aid), and accepted a Department of Health community health worker grant to help cover worker costs.
Codington County commissioners on Jan. 13 voted to keep the county's indigent burial and cremation reimbursement rates unchanged and approved several updates to the community services guidelines, including a narrow expansion of lien authority and a new requirement that recipients of county financial assistance engage in case management.
Community Services Director Sarah Faust said Codington County remains among the state's highest for funeral reimbursement rates and recommended no change to the current schedule. The county's published amounts during the meeting were $2,575 for cremation, $3,952 for burial and $565 for opening and closing a grave. Commissioners approved leaving the rates the same.
Faust presented updates intended to streamline assistance and avoid downstream hardship: the county will allow liens for out‑of‑state birth certificates and IDs (because replacement costs can reach $120–$150) while continuing to waive liens for South Dakota birth certificates and IDs (which generally cost under $25). She told commissioners the change responds to administrative costs and that county funds would still be used where statutory conditions apply.
The board also approved a new policy condition requiring ongoing case management for anyone receiving county financial assistance (county funds only; state or grant funding distributed through other programs would not automatically trigger the requirement). Faust said the policy is intended to connect recipients to broader services and to reduce repeated county assistance requests.
On grants, Faust said the county was awarded a Department of Health overdose/community health worker grant. The grant provides $20,000 per community health worker; the county is eligible to draw $39,998. Faust said there is no local match requirement and that the funds will substitute for county funds where other payer sources like Medicaid are unavailable. The commission approved acceptance of the grant by motion and voice vote.
Faust also announced administrative changes: Coddington Connects is now a registered 501(c)(3) and staff will work to separate the organization formally from county administration, and the county will advertise for a full‑time administrative support position to replace an employee who recently gave notice.
Next steps: staff will distribute final guideline language and the revised appendix for funeral guideline calculations, and proceed with grant paperwork ahead of a planned June drawdown period for the Department of Health funds.
