Tens of millions for Deadwood, 1000’s for remainder of SD

Part 2 of a 2-part sequence. Read half 1.

DEADWOOD, S.D. – While the town of Deadwood will get about $7 million a 12 months in gaming taxes for historic preservation, the whole remainder of the state will get simply $200,000 yearly.

Two separate $100,000 grant applications are funded by way of Deadwood gaming tax revenues to assist pay for historic preservation tasks outdoors the town of Deadwood. One program caps grant quantities at $25,000 per undertaking and the opposite maxes out at $10,000 per undertaking.

“You can’t even replace a single window on a historic building for $10,000.”
– Carl Hall, president of the Hot Springs Historic Preservation Commission within the southern Black Hills

That stage of per-project funding and the small total pool of obtainable funds are “laughable” when contemplating the price of historic preservation and the good want for preservation in communities throughout the state, stated Carl Hall, president of the Hot Springs Historic Preservation Commission within the southern Black Hills.

“You can’t even replace a single window on a historic building for $10,000,” Hall advised News Watch. “It’s just not a tenable financial situation.”

Since legalized playing started in 1989, Deadwood has acquired greater than $237 million for native historic preservation tasks. During that point, solely about $8 million in gaming revenues have been offered for preservation tasks outdoors the town.

Hall stated that South Dakota communities, Deadwood included, ought to have seen extra historic preservation cash from playing however aren’t as a result of the state takes a lot gaming tax revenues for tourism promotion and its basic fund operations annually.

In 2024, tax revenues from Deadwood playing totaled $19.3 million, in accordance with state knowledge. The metropolis of Deadwood acquired about $7 million for historic preservation, about $4.5 million went to the state tourism fund and the state basic fund acquired about $3.5 million. Distribution of funds is dictated by state statute.

The constitutional modification handed by voters in 1988 to legalize playing acknowledged that “the entire net municipal proceeds (of Deadwood gambling) shall be devoted to the historic restoration and preservation of Deadwood.”

“We as a state got hoodwinked because all that revenue that went to the state general fund should have been for historical preservation,” Hall stated. “We need a bigger piece of the pie for the rest of the state.”

2 applications, each capped at $100K

The two applications that provide funding for historic preservation past the borders of Deadwood largely function in the identical methods. In each, recipients should have the ability to match the grant quantity. Both applications overview candidates and provides grants twice a 12 months by way of a aggressive course of.

Neither program is ready to obtain a rise in funding as a part of Senate Bill 102, a invoice handed by the 2026 Legislature that might tweak the present gaming tax allocation method to supply extra money for historic preservation in Deadwood.

The Outside of Deadwood Grant Program is funded with Deadwood gaming cash and administered by the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission.

Grants usually max out at $10,000 per software and recipients should match the grant quantities, stated Kevin Kuchenbecker, historic preservation officer for the town of Deadwood.

Voluntarily launched by the town in 2001, the Outside of Deadwood grant pool was initially $250,000 a 12 months. But after prices of historic preservation in Deadwood started to rise, the town minimize the grant pool to $150,000 in 2018 after which to $100,000 a 12 months in 2019, Kuchenbecker stated.

The program has offered $4.4 million in grants since inception. Last 12 months, this system made 14 grants totaling $93,500.

Grants of $10,000 have been awarded in 2025 to Vale High School for portray, to the Plankinton Preservation Society for portray of the Sweep Hotel, to the St. Francis Mission close to Rosebud for grave markers and to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Hot Springs for stained glass restoration.

Kuchenbecker advised News Watch that he hopes the annual allocation to the Outside of Deadwood grant program will improve sooner or later as gaming tax revenues rise.

The state Deadwood Fund grant program is allotted $100,000 a 12 months in gaming tax revenues for historic preservation tasks outdoors the Black Hills city. Grants are administered by the South Dakota State Historic Preservation Office and high out at $25,000 per software.

In the state-run grant program, which launched in 1995, house owners or directors of historic properties throughout the state can apply for as much as $25,000 for preservation or restoration tasks, stated Garry Guan, state historic preservation officer inside the South Dakota State Historical Society.

“Without adjustment, the current structure unintentionally concentrates preservation success in arguably the wealthiest second-class municipality, while historic assets elsewhere continue to disappear.”
– Letter to South Dakota lawmakers from Hot Springs leaders

A aggressive grant overview course of is performed twice a 12 months by the historic society, stated Guan, who was appointed to his place in December 2024 by former Gov. Kristi Noem.

“Any property owner who owns historic properties, especially those on the national register or state register of historic places, when they need some upkeep work they can present their project and then we review those,” stated Guan.

Some annual distributions rise above the $100,000 stage if there are unused funds and tasks are deemed worthy.

In all, 76 communities have benefited from $3.6 million in grants for 253 tasks, state data present. In 2023, the state program distributed $124,000 in grants for eight tasks.

The two highest grants of $20,000 have been awarded for the repainting and window restore on the Vale School in Butte County and window restoration on the Volin School in Yankton County.

Other grants included $16,000 for window substitute at Fort Sisseton in Marshall County and $10,000 for masonry repairs on the St. Augustine Church in Gregory County.

Big want for funding in Hot Springs

In February 2025, Hall and Hot Springs City Council member Debra Johnston traveled to Deadwood to attend a gathering of the Deadwood Historic Preservation Commission.

The pair expressed each a need to be taught extra about tips on how to receive funding and group assist for historic preservation tasks but additionally to air frustrations on the low funding ranges offered to communities beneath the gaming grant applications.

Hall puzzled aloud how a metropolis like Hot Springs, which wants costly rehabilitation of historic sandstone buildings and vertical walkways, might even start to afford to repair up its downtown.

“We need to be able to focus on community-wide projects,” Hall stated. “With projects like that, you’re talking six figures just to get a plan.”

Johnston introduced the fee with pictures of historic buildings in Hot Springs which are in want of restore, together with some broken by a fireplace in 2023.

“The grants aren’t enough to help us out,” Johnston stated. “We’re just as important as Deadwood because we’re the southern bookend to the Black Hills.”

At the assembly, Kuchenbecker stated he sympathized with the Hot Springs officers and acknowledged that getting funding is the best barrier to community-wide historic preservation and restoration.

“I can tell you that without the gaming revenue, we’d be looking like you are,” he stated then. “It can feel like a losing battle because there’s only a few tools out there.”

In an interview on March 4, Hall advised News Watch he has seen different cities throughout the state battle to keep up historic buildings.

“I want to put it in plain words: If you don’t do something, you’re not going to have downtowns left in South Dakota,” he stated. “We need some big projects done to save these buildings because Mother Nature will win out in the end.”

Hall stated the personal funding serving to Deadwood preservation efforts is unlikely in Hot Springs . “We don’t have any corporations coming into Hot Springs to save us,” he stated. “It’s just not going to happen.”

Letter to lawmakers outlines objectives

The Hot Springs preservation group and different native officers despatched a letter to all legislators previous to the session urging them to allocate extra gaming income to communities outdoors Deadwood.

“As the Legislature considers requests to expand Deadwood’s historic preservation allocation beyond its long-standing level, we respectfully urge that this moment also be used to evaluate preservation needs statewide,” the letter stated.

In specific, the letter requested that lawmakers improve the annual allocation to the state grant program and scale back the requirement that grants be matched at 100% by recipients.

“Hot Springs is not seeking a handout, but a partnership, financially and administratively, to preserve the shared history of South Dakota’s communities,” the letter stated.

The Hot Springs officers stated they didn’t need to sluggish or diminish the significance of historic preservation in Deadwood.

“(But) without adjustment, the current structure unintentionally concentrates preservation success in arguably the wealthiest second-class municipality, while historic assets elsewhere continue to disappear,” the letter stated.

Small grants present huge assist at historic mission

Two state grants from Deadwood gaming funds and one from Outside of Deadwood have been awarded to the historic St. Francis Mission on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Todd County.

According to state data, the mission acquired $18,000 in 2023 to assist pay for renovation of the steeple on the St. Charles Borromeo Church, which had fallen into disrepair. The wood louvers within the century previous steeple had develop into rotted and wanted to get replaced.

In 2025, the mission acquired a $10,000 Deadwood Fund fee and one other $10,000 from Outside of Deadwood for restoration of St. Charles Cemetery.

The oldest graves within the cemetery has wood markers and worn crosses which are being changed by steel markers with names, stated Rodney Bordeaux, director of the mission.

“We have to take care of the church and the ancestors that are buried up there and the Jesuits buried up there because that’s all a part of our history,” he stated.

The grants have been an enormous assist in sustaining the standard of the historic assets on the mission, stated Bordeaux, a former chairman of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

“They’re helping us out, so we’re grateful for the grants,” Bordeaux stated.

Read half 1:

Deadwood seeks extra gaming proceeds after $237M spent

“We’re a small town but we have big-city expenses because of the visitation.” Analysis reveals that $33 billion has been wagered.

South Dakota News Watch is an impartial nonprofit. Read, donate and subscribe at no cost at sdnewswatch.org. Contact content material director Bart Pfankuch: 605-937-9398/bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org.