October 20, 1982

Mr. Roger Tellinghuisen 
Deputy State's Attorney 
Lawrence County Courthouse 
Deadwood, South Dakota 57732

Official Opinion No. 82-55

Withdrawal from Conservancy Subdistrict

Dear Mr. Tellinghuisen:

You have requested an official opinion from this office in regard to the following factual situation:

FACTS: 

Your office has been requested to research the procedures to be followed if the county should decide to withdraw from the Black Hills Conservancy Subdistrict.  While the statutes provide for withdrawal from a subdistrict to form a new subdistrict and also for the dissolution of an entire subdistrict, there does not appear to be any statutory authority for withdrawal of a county from a subdistrict for other reasons.

Based on the above facts, you have asked the following questions:

QUESTIONS: 

1.  Are there any provisions whereby a county can withdraw itself from a conservancy subdistrict for reasons other than to form a new subdistrict? 

2.  What procedures should be followed if the answer to Question No. 1 is yes?

IN RE QUESTION NO. 1:

The answer to your question is a qualified no.  There is no authority by which an area within a subdistrict can withdraw from the subdistrict for any  other purpose than forming a new subdistrict.  SDCL 46-18-11.  However, an area may be removed from a subdistrict by a boundary adjustment of the subdistrict.  SDCL §  46-18-10.  A boundary adjustment does not require the formation of a new subdistrict but would involve submitting the question to all of the voters within the subdistrict rather than just those within the area attempting to be excluded.  Thus, although an area cannot withdraw from a subdistrict without simultaneously forming a new subdistrict, the same purpose can be accomplished by a boundary adjustment.

IN RE QUESTION NO. 2:

The procedure for a boundary adjustment is for properly verified petitions which are signed by twenty-five percent of the owners of real property within the subdistrict to be presented to the South Dakota Conservancy District Board.  The petitions should accurately describe the purpose of the petitions and the proposed boundary adjustment.  The Board shall then call an election to decide the question.  A sixty percent affirmative vote is required to change the subdistrict boundary.

Respectfully submitted,

Mark V. Meierhenry
Attorney General