Sioux Falls, Rapid City haven’t asked for opioid funds despite mayors' calls for action, state official says

Settlement checks meant for rehab programs at center of volleying between South Dakota Department of Social Services, other state and municipal officials

South Dakota’s chief social services officer says the state is not idly sitting on millions in opioid settlement dollars.

Despite criticisms that the state is moving too slowly in getting the funds it does have on hand to addiction programs in Sioux Falls and Rapid City, neither the Department of Social Services nor the panel charged with overseeing the fund have ever received a request for the dollars from their jurisdictions.

That’s according to DSS Secretary Matt Althoff, who this week clapped back after Attorney General Marty Jackley and the mayors of Sioux Falls and Rapid City held a joint press conference calling upon the state to start disbursing the funds it has on hand to local treatment providers, of which they suggested the state has received more than $30 million.

But Althoff says that’s not true.

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