As many families in South Dakota can relate to, they saw their children grow up and leave the family farm to make a life for themselves in the city. That is my history as well.
I grew up in the small southeastern SD community of Burbank. Having more interest in working with numbers than working with animals (that’s good if you’re a County Auditor) I attended USD and majored in business.
I moved to Sioux Falls in 1983 and began a career with Citibank that lasted for 37 years. I will not call myself a banker because that might be a disservice to traditional bankers in our area. My experience at Citibank revolved around managing money. I spent almost the entirety of my career managing Treasury processes for Citibank’s credit card business. After performing various Treasury roles, I became the Treasurer for Citibank (South Dakota) in 2000. In that position I was responsible for funding Citibank’s credit card business along with managing its interest rate and liquidity risks, managing the banks capital positions and managing all the cash flows involved in a business with 150 million customers.
In 2011, I moved to a finance role where I managed Accounting and Finance functions related to the credit card business. In early 2020 I retired from Citibank to pursue “other interests” as they say.
During my time living in Sioux Falls I have been very active in the Community. I am a past board member of the Sioux Falls Development Foundation and the South Development Corporation. Both organizations are focused on expanding existing business and/or attracting new business to the area. I used my investment experience as board members of the USD Foundation, the City of Sioux Falls Investment Advisory Board, the City of Sioux Falls Employee Retirement Fund and my church’s foundation. I am also a member of the board of directors for Active Generations.
Although all of my volunteer activities have been enjoyable, I would say the most fulfilling of them has been my time serving as a volunteer tax preparer for an organization known at Tax-Aide. This program prepares and files individual taxes for the low income and elderly at no cost.
As a volunteer for this program, I have been able to meet many wonderful local residents that I would not have had the chance to meet otherwise. It has allowed me to better understand the challenges many of our lower income and elderly residents have in our community and I believe that will serve me very well in my position as Auditor.
As I write this introductory letter, I have been on the job a whole 4 weeks. In that short time, I have discovered a few things. First, and probably most importantly, I thoroughly enjoy my role as County Auditor. The position uses many of the skills I have acquired over my working career that will be helpful to Minnehaha County and its citizens. I have also learned that elections are a small, although a very important, part of the Auditor’s responsibilities.
Although my experience is in finance, I want you to know I understand the importance of having a well-run, efficient, fair and accurate election. Looking around the rest of the United States I was impressed how our Auditors Office managed the recent election and I expect to build on that success going forward.
For those who didn’t know, the Auditors office, in addition to managing the election process for the county, is responsible for levying taxes, preparing and monitoring the county budget, paying all the bills for the county, recording the minutes of public meetings, issuing liquor licenses, establishing liens on taxpayers that are unable to repay the county for services provided to them, and issuing debt to fund county projects. In effect, the Auditor serves as the Business Manager for the county.
Finally, I have learned that the Auditors Office and Minnehaha County have a very dedicated and experienced staff that serves you very well. I have been very impressed with all the employees I have met and worked with during my time at Minnehaha County. The citizens of the county are very fortunate to have such a dedicated team of employees working for them and doing a wonderful job in a most efficient manner.
I hope to meet many of you as I spend time as your County Auditor. My office is located in the county administration building if you want to stop by and say hello. Otherwise, I hope to meet you as I am out and about.
-Ben Kyte, Minnehaha County Auditor
