John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight
Gov. Larry Rhoden awarded $1 million Wednesday from a fund he controls to help pay for two business parks in the hometown of a political opponent.
Rhoden announced the Future Fund award during an event on the campus of Northern State University in Aberdeen. The city is the business and population center of northeastern South Dakota, but it only has one vacant property available for large-scale business projects, according to a press release from Rhoden’s office.
“These business parks will help ensure that Aberdeen’s economy continues to grow and remain competitive,” Rhoden said in the press release.
The money will be added to $7 million raised by local leaders and private investors, the release says.
Aberdeen is the home of Toby Doeden, who owns businesses in the area and is seeking the Republican nomination for governor in next spring’s primary election. The other declared candidates for the nomination are Rhoden, U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson and state House Speaker Jon Hansen.
Doeden did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday’s Future Fund award.
The Future Fund is a pool of state money, funded by a tax on employers, over which the governor has exclusive control. State law says the money must be used for research or economic development. Earlier this year, Rhoden pledged $1.5 million from the fund to support the build-out of a diesel mechanic training program at the state penitentiary.
The fund has existed since 1987 but became controversial under Rhoden’s predecessor, Kristi Noem, whose uses of the fund included a fireworks show at Mount Rushmore, a Rapid City-area shooting range that legislators refused to fund, a Governor’s Cup rodeo in Sioux Falls, and a workforce recruitment campaign that Noem starred in.
Lawmakers on a government oversight committee recently endorsed a draft bill for the 2026 legislative session that would take the ability to act as the fund’s sole manager away from the governor. The bill would require each Future Fund grant to be approved by a majority of the Board of Economic Development, which already has oversight of other economic development programs.
Shortly after the $1 million award announcement, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development sent a news release saying that the office’s Board of Economic Development had voted to award a $500,000 grant to the city of Watertown “to support critical infrastructure expansion in the Calvin Industrial Park.” The grant is from the state’s Local Infrastructure Improvement Program.
“This investment reflects our commitment to keep South Dakota communities strong, safe, and free,” Rhoden said in that press release.
The Watertown money will help pay for sanitary sewer infrastructure at the industrial park.