Assessments likely to increase again

Pennington County residents will see another upitck in property assessments, according to Shannon Rittberger, director of the Pennington County Equalization Department.

Rittberger said the county is still playing catch-up with the rising real estate market the rest of the country has already seen. His staff is working on assessment notices right now. 

“Preliminarily, what I am looking at our market is still going up. It’s not going up as much as what it was the last few years, though,” Rittberger said.

Keystone and Hill City  residents have already seen double-digit increases in property tax bills over the last three years, numbers  Rittberger calls “dramatic.”

Pennington County assesses real estate the same way  South Dakota property is assessed, annually based on its fair market value as defined in South Dakota codified law 10-6-1.3. 

“We have to appraise it  at what it would sell for,”  Rittberger said.

In Pennington County the assessment date is Nov. 1. Property taxes applicable to this assessment are due in the year following that assessment. 

Assessments for 2024, based on 2023 numbers, will be mailed out March 1.

Rittberger said the reason assessments on property in the Hills keep rising is simply a reflection of what the real estate market is doing. 

“The reason for that is we’re seeing a bigger increase in the real estate market in that area,” Rittberger said.

He also said the market keeps going up. And it’s not just stick-built homes that are rising in value.  Double-wide trailers, which may have previously not appreciated as much or even depreciated over time, are now worth more.

“A double-wide may not last as long as a comparable stick-built home but still, when our market goes up, they go up in value,” Rittberger said.  

It’s a common thing  Rittberger hears—that manufactured homes depreciate every year. 

“And that might be the case when the real estate market’s flat,” he said. “You know your house gets older, it’s worth less, but that’s when the market’s flat. There are 1970 trailer houses that are selling for more now than what it costs brand new to buy because the new trailer house is $100,000.”

Rittberger said the Pennington County market has went crazy. 

“We’ve seen 30 percent increases in home prices in the last few years,” he said. “Fifth percent in some places. The market’s gone up everywhere. It’s gone up in Rapid. It’s gone up in Wall. But there are some areas where it’s gone up more than others.”

Those areas seem to be Hill City and Keystone, resulting in big tax increases for many property owners.

The county reassesses property every year. 

“What we’ve seen the last few years is our market go up 30-40 percent a year,” Rittberger said. “Before that, those first years might have been a 15 or 20 percent. Before that we were looking at 6 or 8 percent a year. Before that we were doing like 3 or 4 percent a year.” 

Rittbeger has never seen our market go down since his tenure beginning in 2008,  but has seen many near-flat years. 

While property is assessed the same, the levy on it is not. The state has a higher levy for commercial properties.  Because of this, more industry in the Hills might help offset the tax burden to residents. 

“All these taxing entities, (schools, the county, fire and ambulance) their budgets are capped,” Ritttberger said. “They can only increase their budget by a few percent every year. They can also increase their budget by the amount of taxes new property pays. But that doesn’t raise taxes on the rest of us, it’s just more money coming in.”

He said that it also adds more people who need more services. 

“But if you get a big industry you’re talking about a big addition to the tax roll,” he said, “so that definitely helps, as long as it doesn’t bring more problems that cost money.”

Since  levies are determined by taxing entities Rittberger encourages people to go to those entities when they conduct budget hearings.

“If our market goes down and assessed valuesgo down, the county’s  budget is still gonna be the same, the school still needs  the same amount of money,” Rittberger said. “What I tell people is I think you go to the school board. When they set their budget, the county commission, when they set their budget, you’ve got to tell them what not to do to save money on taxes. A property owner can’t just say ‘you need to collect less taxes.’ A property owner needs to be specific: ‘don’t do this to save money.’”

Currently the county and state lose potential revenue through exemptions. Rittberger said “every time you give one person a break it shifts the burden to everybody else.”

Churches, masonic lodges and charities are exempt from property taxes. Agricultural land is not assessed market value for land.

“We have a lot  of property, especially in the Black Hills, that is a very low tax rate because it’s ag,” he said.

Rittberger also said millions of dollars come off the tax rolls from elderly assessment freezes and 100 percent disabled veterans programs.

All property owners have the right to appeal the assessment of their property if they think the property is assessed greater than market value, or if there are circumstances the equalization department may be unaware of. A notice of appeal for a property located within a city, town or organized township must be submitted in writing to the clerk of the township no later than the Thursday preceding the third Monday in March. If the property is located outside of any local municipality an appeal must be submitted in writing to the county auditor no later than the first Tuesday in April.

Rittberger’s office will do another outreach presentation in Hill City or Keystone after assessments go out to help educate county residents about the assessment process and the rising real estate market in Hill City and Keystone.