Community Transit of Watertown Sisseton Inc
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
Community Transit is committed to providing coordinated transportation services to citizens in our service area by enhancing the quality of life, livability, self-sufficiency, and freedom through mobility. These goals are accomplished through the use of our core values - safety, teamwork, accountability, accessibility, customer service, and efficiency due to coordination.
- Income
- $3.6 million
- Spending
- $3.4 million
- Spent on programs
- 68%
- Reserves
- 8 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- government grants, 65%
- Employees
- 98
- Volunteers
- 8
- Highest pay
- $91,262, co-executive director
Source: Form 990 for the year ending September 30, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Strong: 93 out of 100. Higher than 76% of charities in its peer group (public benefit, $1m to $10m).
Reserves
28 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 8.0 months of spending.
Debt
20 of 20It owes 3% of what it owns.
Living within its means
15 of 15Income exceeded spending by 6% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 9% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1568% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 0 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending September 30, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Strong: 100 out of 100. Higher than 70% of charities in its peer group (public benefit, $1m to $10m).
Independent board
25 of 2512 of 12 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
8 of 8Has a written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
5 of 5Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.
Independent check of accounts
15 of 15Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending September 30, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (4)
- $2.3 million spent. Our list of accomplishments would begin and end with the record number of rides we provided in fiscal year ending 2024. The fact Community Transit of Water Town Sisseton (CTWSI) provided 8,000 more rides than FY 2023 is amazing, but more impressive is the fact those rides were provided with the same high quality of service as in previous years. Bigger is not always better, especially if the quality of service suffers because of the growth. That did not happen in this case.
- Two areas of service CTWSI continues to take pride in are our medical transportation contracts and rides for veterans. Prairie Lakes Healthcare (PLH) and Watertown Area Transit (WATI) entered a contract for service in 2016. This agreement called for WATI to provide rides to and from all medical facilities in the city of Watertown and PLH would pay the fare. When CTWSI was formed in 2019, the contract remained in place. In November of 2024, CTWSI and PLH finalized a contract for a ninth year. PLH also agreed to an increase in fares at the request of CTWSI administrators.
- CTWSI is a South Dakota Medicaid provider and continues to provide rides for those sponsored trips to varied locations across the region. The most frequent destinations are Sioux Falls, Watertown, Aberdeen and Brookings in SD and Bismarck and Fargo, ND. Other destinations in SD have included Yankton, Redfield, Desmet, Milbank, Mobridge, Ipswich, Webster, Britton, Pierre, Mitchell and Rapid City. There have been trips booked to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MM and the U. of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Indian Health Services has utilized CTWESI for medical trips in our service area.
- CTWSI signed an MOU with River Cities Transit in 2020 to transport Veterans as part of the Highly Rural Transportation Grant. This grant allows CTWSI to transport qualified veterans in the counties designated as highly rural (less than 7 people per square mile) to appointments in a variety of locations. The HRTG pays the fare to CTWSI for the rides. In our coverage area, Deuel, Clark, Day, Marshall, Spink, Faulk, McPherson and Campbell counties are considered highly rural.Our overall increase in ridership is considered an accomplishment because of the impact our service had in our communities. Overall, the CTWSI ridership increased by over 8,000 in one year - from 182,002 to 190,603. Watertown's ridership increased by 13,000 rides from 70,500 to 83,614. The biggest increase was in rides for employment, which became the leading category for transportation. Overall, education remains the largest category for riders followed by medical and employment rides. CTWSI became approved vendors for the Veterans Administration allowing us another avenue to serve veterans.Administrators continue to speak to any audience about the benefits and the workings of public transit. We assume the outreach we do is at least partially responsible for the large growth in ridership numbers. Social media is still our favorite source for advertising. We are in the process of revamping our website and are excited about the possibilities in the future. Word of mouth is still our most beneficial method of reaching the public and so we continue to be a face in the crowd as much and as often as possible.We are a member of the SD Transit Providers Association, Dakota Transit Association and Community Transportation of America. Co-Executive Director Kathy Holman was elected as the new president of the DTA in October. She replaced CTWSl's other Co-Executive Director Terry Hoffman in the same role. He completed a 9-year run on the board.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending September 30, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 30, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 10, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending September 2025.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since July 2020.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 7, 2026.
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