Some assessments likely to rise again

Custer County is faring better in terms of getting its assessed values of property closer to market value, but will still likely have to raise the value on a number of properties in the coming year.
That was the report from Custer County Equalization Office director Leah Vissia and deputy director Tara Haswell at the Dec. 6 meeting of the Custer County Commission, as the two updated the commission on the ongoing reappraisal efforts as well as upcoming values.
Vissia told the commission non-agricultural property is currently at 78 percent of the market. There is also a new costing manual, which spells out the cost of building, which has increased.
“We can’t finalize until we know what we are going to do with depreciation,” Vissia said. “Between upping the manual level and seeing depreciation, that will give us an end result in January. We know it’s going to go up, we just don’t know how much.”
Outside of city limits, land is at 71 percent of market value, Vissia said. The state requires the county assess property at at least 85 percent of market value, or the state will intervene and raise the valuations itself.
Vissia said the county is at 81 percent on its houses with land outside city limits. In town, houses are at 77 percent of market value, while land is at 79 percent. Last year that figure was 100 percent, showing how dramatically it changed in only a year.
Commercial buildings are holding steady at 95 parent, although land is at 42 percent.
Haswell told the commission to keep in mind that just because the county is at 71 percent of market value, that does not mean the entire county needs bumped up 14 percent. Instead, she said, it could be one area of the county that is dramatically underassessed that needs to be done differently to bring up the average.
Vissia said costing manual increased “big time,” but those and depreciation will be adjusted every year moving forward so there are not as big of jumps outside of market value.
In terms of the countywide reassessment the equalization office is undertaking, range three was finished this year, which included Canyon Rim Ranch, parts of Danby Park and parts of Custer Limestone.
Moving forward the office will go to range four, and have a heavy focus on Custer City. In preparation for that, the office is working on land rates for the City of Custer. Two employees will be designated per township, and they will work through September on the reappraisal process.
The commission also heard from county highway superintendent Jess Doyle, who went over information with regard to Custer State Park’s contribution to Custer County for magnesium chloride (mag water) application on county roads that access Custer State Park.
The program, which is made available through the South Dakota Department of Transportation, sees $2.8 million made available each year through the life of the program for access roads to any state parks in South Dakota.
In 2021 Doyle requested $48,114 for a “half shot” of the mag water for Lame Johnny Road, Lower French Creek Road, LH Road and America Center Road, the four county roads that provide access to the park. The state provided $26,000.
The second year, he requested the same $48,114, and was granted the full amount. For the coming state fiscal year and the county’s 2024 budget year, he requested $66,825 for the same roads, with the increase due to the increase in the cost of doing business. The state allocated around half that amount, and sent a letter saying it preferred the mag water application be on Lame Johnny and LH Roads.
After that, Doyle said, he got another email saying it was OK to apply it to any of the four roads.
“We would prefer it be applied to east side roads, as they see more volume of park-user traffic,” Doyle quoted the email. “However, we understand yourself and the commission has to consider all county residents when making decisions where resources are allocated in the county.”
Another letter received said the state was making every effort to encourage local and out of town park visitors to use the state highway system to enter the park. He questioned whether that was being done.
Doyle said even if the money allocated by the state were split evenly among the state’s 63 state parks, the county still was not getting a fair share.
“Custer State Park is marketed as the ‘crown jewel’ of the state,” he said, adding he doubts there is any other state park in the state that has four county roads accessing it.
“We are effectively providing services on four roads for two million people in the summer months,” Doyle said. “That burden has been placed on Custer County taxpayers. The state is making a lot of money off Custer County, and we’re not seeing a lot back from the state.”
Doyle, like the commission, said a payment in lieu of taxes could be a solution, similar to how the federal government does for roads the county maintains for it, although he allowed the federal government does not compensate the county nearly as much money as it costs to maintain those roads, either.
“If you take out all the untaxed land and figure out what our local taxpayers are paying on that, we could reduce taxes incredibly if we got some help,” he said.
The commission voted to approve the money from the state for the mag chloride, with Doyle saying it will be applied to America Center and Lower French Creek roads, as LH and Lame Johnny Roads most recently got the water when only two of the roads could be covered.