Hill City Housing Survey seeks to better infrastructure in the small town

Hill City could receive federal grant dollars through the Community Development Block Grant, to upgrade infrastructure.
Published: Feb. 8, 2024 at 11:44 AM EST

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Starting on Jan. 31, the City of Hill City started delivering surveys to households across town. The survey is to get an accurate account of household incomes to see if the city could receive federal grant dollars through the Community Development Block Grant, to upgrade infrastructure.

The city has never qualified before due to household incomes being too high, but with a growing population and the town seeing more tourists than ever, upgraded facilities are a necessity.

While the city isn’t sure which projects they would allocate the funds to, if they receive the grant, they want to focus on water facility plans, a wastewater facility, flood risk assessment, mitigation and resiliency studies, or the Museum Drive Bridge replacement.

“Hill City’s unique in that we’ve got tourists that visit us, so a town of a thousand people like Hill City can turn into a town of five thousand people in a matter of a weekend or during the summer, during July. So we need to have facilities that have a broad spectrum of being able to service those kinds of shifts in population,” says city administrator, Brett McMacken.

The data is important for the community to stay ahead of demands for growth and infrastructure improvements. The city plans to follow up with all survey participants but if you have any questions you can call City Hall at (605) 574-2300.