When Software Updates Test Patience

May 2025 | Eric Jennings, Lawrence County Commissioner Opinion Editorial, Black Hills Pioneer

Software update. The idea of software updates sends chills up and down my spine thinking of the potential consequences. Will the data and documents look the same or be corrupted? Will I be able to use my old shortcuts? Will my passwords still be saved?  Oh sure, the updated software offers new tools and functionality, but how long will it take to learn how to navigate the new features?

Now imagine you’re navigating these new features in a program designed to provide an important and necessary public service and there’s a long line of people waiting for that service. Throw in some programming glitches or a frozen screen and the help desk message informs you there are 126 calls in front of you. Those challenges and more have plagued the staff of the county treasurer’s office every morning since February 8^th.  The South Dakota Department of Revenue, Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) maintains the system that county offices access for all titled vehicles and trailers. To say that the update to that system has not gone well would be an understatement. All our software update fears have been realized.  

Some information about people’s vehicles didn’t transfer, affecting renewals, specialty plates, and temporary permits. Liens on titles are also a challenge to complete.  Unfortunately, some corrections to the titles and registration information must be done in Pierre instead of at the county level. Thankfully, not every transaction requires a call for assistance to the state office, however, about 20% of them do. There are approximately 4,000 renewals per day in South Dakota, which means there are approximately 800 that need assistance from the state office. The state brought in additional staff to help with the volume of calls, and there are software programmers working to correct the issues, but we are still experiencing lengthy wait times for assistance. This has caused a significant interruption to the flow of business in the county treasurer office, not to mention the added stress and frustration to the employees and customers. The Lawrence County treasurer’s department staff has been working through their lunch hours, staying after work and coming in on weekends to try and catch up with their duties.  

While DMV transactions have been consuming much of their time, staff has other duties as well. The treasurer’s office collects property taxes for the county, municipalities, school districts, and special taxing districts. Starting in January, they will also be reviewing elderly exemptions for property tax valuations to comply with the Governor’s tax bill, Senate Bill 216. The treasurer’s office also sells road decals to out-of-state visitors for the on-road travel of Off Highway Vehicles.  

While we hope this will be resolved soon, the reality is that it won’t be resolved in days or even weeks. It will take a full year of renewals to expose all the data transfer issues.  Hopefully, far less time to correct the glitches, but until all the data and the glitches are corrected, and the new software lives up to its expectations, we all must exercise patience when doing our DMV business. Having your vehicle information and photo identification with you will help.  If you have questions, the best method of contacting the treasurer’s office is by email at treas-all@lawrence.sd.us.  

We have all wanted to strangle our keyboards from time to time when dealing with software updates and new systems. The state and county employees are working very hard to make the best of a difficult situation. It will get better. It won’t be today, tomorrow or even next week, but it will get better.