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Homeowners in Pennington County recently received their property tax assessments (or will be receiving them shortly) and there are always some assessments that jump up significantly. Some people may want to contest their assessed value. There are quite a few things to understand before moving ahead with an appeal. First, you must be aware of the timelines.
Pennington County provides the following information regarding appeals. I have abridged the information as there is an additional level of appeal to the state available as well. I must say that in my opinion, previous tax notices were written more clearly. I edited the information to be easier to digest:
Complaint on your assessment may be made to your local township or municipal board of equalization by filing a written notice of appeal with the clerk of the local board of equalization no later than the Thursday preceding the third Monday in March (3/12), postmarked by deadline is considered timely.
If you are not satisfied with the decision of that local board, you may appeal to your county board by filing a written notice of appeal with the county auditor on or before the first Tuesday in April (4/7), postmarked by deadline is considered timely.
Please include a phone number with all written correspondence.
It’s important to understand that even though you may not like the amount of property tax that you are paying, you cannot use this as a forum for making that argument. Typically, you must make your voice be heard when budget discussions are going on at the city and county level. As a former elected official for Rapid City, I voted consistently against tax increases. Unfortunately, I was always in the minority. But I digress…
If you are unhappy with your assessed value, you must look at it objectively. In a nutshell, the question is whether or not your home is as valuable as the county assessment indicates.
As an example, a home was formerly assessed at $225,900 and the new assessed value is 25% higher…at $282,375. If the home is actually worth $282,375 or more there is no point in trying to argue the assessment. In this scenario, if the home is actually valued at $300,000 then a person appealing their 25% increase could actually end up with a 33% increase to their assessed value and have it revised to be $300,000.
So, you want to make sure that your home’s actual value is less than your assessed value if you are going to appeal an assessment decision.
Keep in mind that most times county assessors are usually only looking at the outside of a home (unless you’ve let them inside for their assessment). If your home needs significant work inside but looks really nice outside, there is a better likelihood that it will be valued higher than it is actually worth.
In the county’s defense, property values have increased significantly over the past 10 years and many property assessments had been lagging behind.
If you are going to appeal your assessment, you want to be prepared and have as much objective information as possible. If you had an appraisal done recently or you purchased the home for much less recently, that would be very helpful. I have helped people by providing a comparative market analysis (CMA) on their home to give a person a better idea of the current market value of their home. Sometimes the results can be surprising.
Here is a link to Pennington County’s assessment appeal process:
https://www.pennco.org/index.asp?SEC=E9DA7ECA-2215-470F-9547-56C2CB98321E&Type=B_BASIC
If you are on a fixed income, disabled, or a senior citizen, you may qualify for a tax freeze regardless of what county you reside in. There are income guidelines for this as well as some other restrictions. Here is a link to more information on that.
There is also a property tax refund that may be available depending on income. To learn more, visit the South Dakota state website at: https://atg.sd.gov/victim/seniors/taxes.aspx
As always, if you are looking at buying or selling a home or if there is anything else that I can help you with, please give me a call at (605) 593-3759.
