OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Rapid City Council 2027 Budget Presentations - July 30, 2026

City Council — Thursday, July 30, 2026
BodyRapid City, South Dakota
SessionCity Council
DateThursday, July 30, 2026
StatusNEW · FILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:16:40
Transcript — Verbatim
2:34

There were three hundred and forty-four claims opened and managed by a risk management coordinator, both work comp and liability claims.

2:42

We opened four hundred and fifty pro law matters in our office, and a pro law matter is when there's any item that's substantial ha involves substantial work.

2:50

It's an agreement, bid, legal question.

2:54

If it's um something that we spend more than you know, 30 minutes of time on, we'll open a a matter in order to keep it for the future.

3:02

We reviewed 123 contracts that were for department director signature, which the council never even sees.

3:09

Um there were five hundred and seventy-two criminal citations and complaints, which um caused us up to uh very little work to a six significant amount of work, and we staffed at least a hundred and forty meetings.

3:24

Um our basics of our budget similar to other departments, our people make up ninety-four percent of our budget.

3:31

We have five attorney positions, one risk management coordinator who is Stacy Wolf, who's been with us for a long time, and one admin assistant.

3:40

Um and we leverage the remaining six percent of our budget in ways that hopefully provide maximum valuable value to our staff and to our clients.

3:52

Here's the comparison of our budgets from this year and next year um taken from the mayor's budget booklet.

4:00

As you can see, personnel is staying primarily the same.

4:04

Uh that's the vast majority.

4:06

Like I said, 94% of our budget is for our personnel salaries and benefits.

4:12

Um and we divide out the remaining 71,000 um to pay for additional services and costs.

4:22

This year we've kind of moved money from professional services and from training and education in order to have sufficient money for supplies and also other operating expenses.

4:34

And the the um last column, other operating, which has gone up eighteen point four percent.

4:41

The bulk of that and how we've kind of had to scramble a little bit to fit an additional cost into our budget is we are um at the end of last year, we upgraded our Westlaw package, and West Law is our legal research um package.

5:00

And we we hadn't made any changes in a long time.

5:02

And as you can imagine, the resources that are available related to AI and AI assisted legal research are valuable to our work, valuable to making sure that we're efficient.

5:19

And they also are valuable to Westlaw, and so we're paying 12,000 more than we had been before.

5:25

Ms.

5:25

Cushman, uh Chair recognizes Counselor Strowman.

5:28

Thank you, Chair.

5:30

On the personnel budget for 2027, does that include the positions that you are going to fill the yet?

5:37

You have yet to fill the two attorney positions.

5:40

Yes, yes, that's for seven personnel.

5:42

Currently we have two open positions, so hopefully we will bring somebody on shortly, bring a couple people on shortly.

5:50

And that um that's for a full staff of seven.

5:53

Okay, so you accounted for that, so we don't have to worry about an additional.

5:57

Okay.

5:57

Right.

5:58

Correct.

5:58

Thank you.

5:59

Correct.

6:00

Counselor Maher.

6:02

Yeah, my question is to occasionally we use uh external law firms for cases.

6:08

Is that not included in your budget?

6:10

That's a good question.

6:12

Um we do have some amount of money for professional services.

6:16

Um generally when we have outside counsel, most of the time I would say insurance um is paying for that outside counsel.

6:25

And if insurance doesn't pay for it and it's directly related to it, one department, that department will pay for those professional services.

6:32

So we have, you know, currently one, you know, if if public works is being sued about something, then public works will pay.

6:38

Well, that would be covered by insurance.

6:40

If public works has brought a lawsuit, like I'm thinking about the one on behalf or concerning uh Catron Boulevard, the cost for the attorney's fees comes out of the public works budget.

6:52

Okay, thank you.

6:54

There are times when we have provided for legal services out of our budget.

6:58

It just depends, it's just not a very big line item.

7:00

So it kind of is more suitable for one-off situations where we have a small bill rather than a long-term contract with an attorney.

7:09

And we'll move back to Councillor Strowman.

7:11

Thank you, Chair.

7:12

So if you have a claim that you're presenting on the behalf of the city and you hire outside counsel, do you pay them at an hourly, or is it on a contingency rate, or how how does that contract look for the outside council to pursue a claim?

7:27

Generally, it's an hourly rate.

7:29

We don't um to my knowledge, we don't have any contingency um agreements with attorneys.

7:36

I'm not saying that we wouldn't do that, but generally the claims that we're bringing are not really the the more claim the claims that we're bringing are just not really suitable for contingency matters.

7:48

Okay.

7:49

And then um, my firm just received a letter, which I think that most firms probably did in town about a collection action.

7:58

Um and you're just basically putting that out for bid.

8:01

You don't have a set rate, it's kind of you'll see what kind of proposals you get.

8:05

That's exactly right.

8:06

Okay.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Fiscal Sustainability███████████████15%
Public Engagement████████████12%
Procedural██████████10%
Airport Operations█████████9%
Budget Equity Analysis████████8%
Engineering And Infrastructure████████8%
Personnel Matters██████6%
Zoning And Land Use██████6%
Transportation Safety██████6%
Summary of Proceedings

Rapid City Council 2027 Budget Presentations

The Rapid City Council held a meeting on July 30, 2026, to receive budget presentations for the 2027 fiscal year from the City Attorney's Office, Finance Department, Community Development Department, Rapid City Regional Airport, and the Rapid City Public Library. The presentations covered operational highlights, proposed budgets, future plans, and staffing challenges. No formal votes were taken on the budgets, but council members provided feedback and direction.

City Attorney's Office Budget Presentation

  • Key Statistics: The office managed 344 claims (workers' comp and liability), opened 450 pro law matters, reviewed 123 contracts, processed 572 criminal citations/complaints, and staffed at least 140 meetings. Personnel comprises 94% of the budget (5 attorneys, 1 risk management coordinator, 1 admin assistant). The proposed 2027 budget includes a $12,000 increase for a Westlaw AI research upgrade.
  • Discussion: Two attorney positions remain open. Outside counsel costs are typically covered by insurance or individual department budgets. The office plans to hire two new attorneys in 2026, review risk management services for a potential additional FTE in 2028, and leverage AI tools for contract review and efficiency.

Finance Department Budget Presentation

  • Key Statistics: The department processes over $1/3 billion annually in payments, with 12 staff handling accounts payable/receivable. Grants division secured $24.6 million in awards (38 active grants). Treasury services generated significant interest income (e.g., $12 million in 2024 on $220 million invested). Total new revenue from savings, grants, interest, and TIFFs over three years: $129 million.
  • Discussion: A budget analyst position is transferring from Public Works (no net new FTE). One new FTE is proposed for succession planning (Dave Uhas retiring 2027/2028). Professional services decreased due to reduced grant contingency. Other operating expenses increased $364,000 for direct grant implementation. Future initiatives include centralized purchasing, travel policy, internal reviews, and fee analysis.
  • Council Feedback: Councilor Strowman praised the department's performance and education efforts. Councilor Maher inquired about TIFF reimbursement timing.

Community Development Budget Presentation

  • Key Statistics: Overall budget $11.2 million, 73 FTEs. City population grew 45% and annexed area 42% in 25 years. Building permits and fees are at record highs (61% residential). Code enforcement averages 1,600 violations annually with only 3 officers. Parking operations is an enterprise fund with revenues exceeding expenses. RTS ridership increased 30,000 over five years; 6 of 26 driver positions are vacant.
  • Discussion: The division plans to replace aging parking meters with kiosks ($500,000 one-time cost, saving $50,000 annually in maintenance). RTS starting wage ($20/hr) is insufficient to attract drivers; a market analysis is pending. GIS is expanding asset management. Fee rates for permits and services have not been raised in over 40 years; a rate analysis will be completed by end of 2026. Director Fisher requested future additional FTEs (2 code enforcement, 1 planner) funded by increased fee revenue.
  • Council Feedback: Councilor Evans expressed concern about code enforcement effectiveness and developer-driven planning. Councilor Strowman asked about reuse of old parking meters. Councilor Maher inquired about e-submission of building plans (implementation in progress).

Airport Budget Presentation

  • Key Statistics: Record 905,000 passengers in 2025. Operating revenue $14 million, expenses $9.4 million, net income $5.3 million. The airport is operationally self-funded (no general fund). Five airlines, soon to be four due to merger. Parking and car rental are top revenue sources.
  • Discussion: Terminal expansion phase 1 ($70.4 million) is nearing completion; phase 2 concourse expansion ($110 million) is in design (60% complete) with CMAR proposals received. Runway redevelopment (estimated $100 million) will begin environmental assessment in the next three years. The airport is exploring common-use ticket counters for flexibility. Councilor Strowman asked about runway status and future federal funding.
  • Council Feedback: Councilor Meyer noted the terminal is overcrowded; excitement for expansion.

Library Budget Presentation

  • Key Statistics: 1 million checkouts, 97,000 database uses, 17,000 event attendees in 2025. 42% of residents have library cards. Estimated value of services: $43 million. Proposed general fund request: $3.88 million (down $175,000 from previous year due to FTE transfers to maintenance and shared FTE with finance).
  • Discussion: The library achieved efficiencies through centralized maintenance and a shared FTE with finance (saving $100,000 annually). Cataloging costs reduced by $50,000 by purchasing records from vendors. 2027 goals include a community access study, adding study pods, a blood pressure station, and potential kiosk for motor vehicle licensing. County funding is a challenge: Pennington County proposed $81,000, far below the $373,000 requested to serve 4,500 county cardholders; options include significant cuts or charging fees to county residents.
  • Council Feedback: Councilor Meyer asked about county negotiations and feasibility of fees for non-residents. Councilor Strowman inquired about charitable support (Friends of the Library and Library Foundation provide project-specific funding).

Key Outcomes

  • No votes were taken on the presented budgets; they are part of the ongoing budget process.
  • Council expressed support for fee studies and additional FTEs in Community Development, contingent on revenue generation.
  • The Library board will continue to explore options for county funding, including potential fees for county residents.
  • The Airport's terminal expansion and runway redevelopment will proceed with federal and local funding.
  • The meeting adjourned without further discussion.

Meeting Transcript

There were three hundred and forty-four claims opened and managed by a risk management coordinator, both work comp and liability claims. We opened four hundred and fifty pro law matters in our office, and a pro law matter is when there's any item that's substantial ha involves substantial work. It's an agreement, bid, legal question. If it's um something that we spend more than you know, 30 minutes of time on, we'll open a a matter in order to keep it for the future. We reviewed 123 contracts that were for department director signature, which the council never even sees. Um there were five hundred and seventy-two criminal citations and complaints, which um caused us up to uh very little work to a six significant amount of work, and we staffed at least a hundred and forty meetings. Um our basics of our budget similar to other departments, our people make up ninety-four percent of our budget. We have five attorney positions, one risk management coordinator who is Stacy Wolf, who's been with us for a long time, and one admin assistant. Um and we leverage the remaining six percent of our budget in ways that hopefully provide maximum valuable value to our staff and to our clients. Here's the comparison of our budgets from this year and next year um taken from the mayor's budget booklet. As you can see, personnel is staying primarily the same. Uh that's the vast majority. Like I said, 94% of our budget is for our personnel salaries and benefits. Um and we divide out the remaining 71,000 um to pay for additional services and costs. This year we've kind of moved money from professional services and from training and education in order to have sufficient money for supplies and also other operating expenses. And the the um last column, other operating, which has gone up eighteen point four percent. The bulk of that and how we've kind of had to scramble a little bit to fit an additional cost into our budget is we are um at the end of last year, we upgraded our Westlaw package, and West Law is our legal research um package. And we we hadn't made any changes in a long time. And as you can imagine, the resources that are available related to AI and AI assisted legal research are valuable to our work, valuable to making sure that we're efficient. And they also are valuable to Westlaw, and so we're paying 12,000 more than we had been before. Ms. Cushman, uh Chair recognizes Counselor Strowman. Thank you, Chair. On the personnel budget for 2027, does that include the positions that you are going to fill the yet? You have yet to fill the two attorney positions. Yes, yes, that's for seven personnel. Currently we have two open positions, so hopefully we will bring somebody on shortly, bring a couple people on shortly. And that um that's for a full staff of seven. Okay, so you accounted for that, so we don't have to worry about an additional. Okay. Right. Correct. Thank you. Correct. Counselor Maher. Yeah, my question is to occasionally we use uh external law firms for cases. Is that not included in your budget? That's a good question. Um we do have some amount of money for professional services. Um generally when we have outside counsel, most of the time I would say insurance um is paying for that outside counsel. And if insurance doesn't pay for it and it's directly related to it, one department, that department will pay for those professional services. So we have, you know, currently one, you know, if if public works is being sued about something, then public works will pay. Well, that would be covered by insurance. If public works has brought a lawsuit, like I'm thinking about the one on behalf or concerning uh Catron Boulevard, the cost for the attorney's fees comes out of the public works budget. Okay, thank you. There are times when we have provided for legal services out of our budget. It just depends, it's just not a very big line item. So it kind of is more suitable for one-off situations where we have a small bill rather than a long-term contract with an attorney. And we'll move back to Councillor Strowman. Thank you, Chair.

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