'Painful': Ash tree felling will hook Sioux Falls homeowners for millions

Councilors, City Hall indicate payback deadline extension needed with arborists’ shifting to what’s left of 45,000 private ash trees

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misreported the number of ash trees removed from public property and the number of ash trees estimated to be on private property. The Dakota Scout strives for accuracy and regrets the error. Bring errors to the attention of editor@thedakotascout.com.

Sioux Falls homeowners should brace for what will amount to tens of millions in government-mandated tree removal expenses that could end up on their yearly tax bills.

But Sioux Falls city officials are in talks about how to give owners of what’s estimated to be as many as 45,000 ash trees standing on private property a bit more time to pay for removal of dead, dying or diseased timber.

“We’re going to reach a painful point,” Assistant City Parks Director Brett Kollars said this week while briefing city councilors on City Hall’s decade-long plan to have every ash tree in the city felled following discovery of the invasive emerald ash borer in 2018.

Emerald ash borer spreading across eastern South Dakota