County looks to get equal

Posted 2/21/23

Moody County Department of Equalization

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County looks to get equal

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Groceries, gas, entertainment, almost anything you purchase has seen a significant increase within the last five years. This increase has also been seen in the South Dakota real estate market. According to the South Dakota Realtors Association, the statewide median home sales price rose by 54% from 2018 to 2022. New construction has increased as well from 2.1 million in 2020, 4.2 million in 2021 to 6.2 million in 2022. When the market sees that high of an increase it makes Moody County Director of Equalization DeAnna Berke’s job a little harder.
Some of the readers, like myself, may not have any clue what the Department of Equalization is nor what they do. When you visit the Moody County’s website it says, “The Director of Equalization Office (also known as County Assessor) is responsible for estimating the market value for all taxable property in Moody County.  The value of these properties is not determined on an individual basis, but rather by a mass appraisal system.” Still confused? So was I, but luckily after spending some time with the ladies that work in the equalization office, I have a little better grasp on it and hopefully I can provide the same relief to you.
Let’s start with the word “median” it may have been a few years since any of us have spent some time working with mean, median and mode. The median of sales is configured by combining all the good sales within the County and dividing that number by the number of sales giving you the median or average. The median affects the Equalization Department and their job because they are required by the State of South Dakota to have all property within the county be equalized/valued to 85% or greater of the median market value for that type of property. Berke and the Equalization Department report all final open market sales to the state annually every year. The state then looks at that data and tells the County at what percentage they are at to sales. The County is currently sitting at 62.07% of sales reported in 2022. That is a long distance from the 85% the state requires of the county.
What does that difference mean to you? It means the value of your house or property will see a significant increase when Assessment Notices go out in March. Director Berke explains that everyone within the County can expect to see some sort of increase in their property value. What that change will be will depend on location, property type and year of build, just like an appraisal when purchasing a property.  I am sure if you are like me, you are now thinking that if the value of my house is going up so will the taxes. Though that may happen it will not be directly caused from the equalization process. A property’s tax bill is driven by the budgets adopted by the county, the city, and the school district. State law limits the amount of taxes that can be collected each year, factoring in an increase for inflation.  The Department of revenue provides this example on their website:

City had $10,000,000 of value. City asked for $10,000 of taxes last year. City’s levy was $1.00
Property of $150,000 --> paid $150 in taxes.
Assessor increases values by 50% as required by the market. City now has $15,000,000 of value. City increases their tax request by growth + cpi *(total of 5%), making their request $10,500/ City’s levy is now $.700.
Property is now access at 225,000 --> pays $157.50 in taxes
Taxes did increase. BUT the increase was due to the 5% increase in the tax call increasing the levy… not the 50% increase in value.
 Now you are probably asking yourself, “Well what if I don’t agree with my Assessment Notice?” Berke explains “If you believe your assessment value is incorrect you should contact the Equalization office immediately.  Our office can come out and reevaluate the property.  If you still disagree with your assessment, you then need to start an appeal to your local board.”