'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: A survey of ash trees on private property conducted from public right of way assessed 66,000 properties, and 45,000 ash trees were estimated to be standing on private property in Sioux Falls in 2018. That was not correctly reported in an earlier version of this article. 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 remove 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 an invasive insect that kills trees that was discovered in Sioux Falls in 2018.

Emerald ash borer spreading across eastern South Dakota