Assessment Notices were mailed this weekend (Feb 28^th-Mar 1^st).  The following is a list of information you should know about your assessment.

First, what is an assessment value?  The assessment value is supposed to represent the value you could sell the property for on a fair and open market. (This means the property is properly advertised and is offered for sale to anyone who would wish to buy.) There is a range of 85% – 100% of market value that is considered ideal by the state.  For non-agricultural properties and agricultural buildings the value is compared to sales, for agricultural land the value is determined by the state soil productivity method that was introduced in 2010.

***IMPORTANT***  Do not compare your assessment value to the value on your tax bill. These are apples and oranges.  The value on your tax notice is only a percentage of your assessment value.  How much of a percentage changes each year by direction of the state.  For example if the state factor was 85% a $100,000 assessed home would only show a taxable value of $85,000 on its tax bill.  It often happens that people whose values did not change at all will compare the value on their tax bill with that on their assessment notice and believe they have increased 10% or more.

Ag Land

The state raised the top dollar for crop land in Shannon County 25% again this year.  The top dollar for grass land decreased 1.3%.

Exempt Properties

The way that value reductions for exempt properties are calculated was changed this year. The Shannon County Commissioners agreed to the full 80 acres of exemption for each qualified non-profit organization.  This has increased the amount of land exempt for some entities.  Some groups may also see an increase to their deeded acreage, this is because in the past if a church owned 80 acres and 5 acres was exempt the parcel was listed as 75 acres.  This was a short cut used by the office but it lead to problems when running statistics for the county. It was also misleading as deeded acreage is to be the number of acres owned not the number of acres taxes.  This has been corrected for this year.  If your organization was affect by this change and you have questions please contact our office at 605-745-5136.

Other Properties

The only other changes were to individual properties as buildings were added or removed during regular field work.  REMINDER: If you lose a building during the year please contact the Department of Equalization before November 1st so that we can remove it from the tax rolls!  Don’t pay taxes on a building that no longer exists!

Thank you to all our AG producers who attended the Informational AG Meeting at the Mueller Center on Tuesday, October 28th.  The informal attendance count was 84. For those who could not attend links are provided below to the information that was distributed.

Fall River County AG Information Packet – produced by the Fall River Department of Equalization

Agricultural Land Assessment under the Productivity System – produced by Michael Houdyshell from the South Dakota Department of Revenue

Tuesday, October 28th at 9:30 am the Department of Equalization will be hosting a meeting at the Mueller Center in Hot Springs. Michael Houdyshell, Director of Property and Special Tax Division with the Department of Revenue will be presenting information on:

• The AG productivity methodology which was implemented by the State of South Dakota in 2010.
• Adjustments that can be made for AG land.
• The development of a new AG soil table for Fall River County.
• Information on AG sales and taxes.

There will be a Question and Answer Session after the presentations.

What: Informational AG Meeting

Where: Mueller Center, Hot Springs, SD

When: 9:30 am, Tuesday, October 28th.

Early voting has begun in South Dakota. Shannon County residents have two locations where they may vote early: at the Satellite Early Voting Center in Pine Ridge, located on Highway 18 in the same building as H & R Block, just north of Sioux Nation; or at the Auditor’s Office in the Fall River County Courthouse in Hot Springs. Both locations are open for voting between 8AM and 5PM, Monday through Friday, until the close of business on November 3^rd, 2014. Voters should have a photo ID with them; if the voter does not possess a photo ID, they may fill out a short affidavit instead.

Ballots also can be mailed to voters if they are housebound or out of the area. Contact the Auditor’s Office for information on how to apply for a mailed ballot at 745-5130.

Voters must vote at their regular polling place any time between 7AM and 7PM.

Shannon County voters should also be aware that they have two ballots: one is the State and Federal General Election ballot and one is a separate ballot for the question of whether the County name should be changed.

Sample Ballot – General Election

Sample Ballot – County Name Change