Unveiling the plan to reduce property tax

Greetings! Wow, what a week! Of course the governor’s budget address to joint session of the House and Senate was epic in the truest sense of the word. It was sad for me because I felt very comfortable with her as governor. I knew how she felt and carried a lot of the values/principles of our population. I also knew her staff and now to operate to get things done.
That being said, I feel Lt. Gov. Rhoden will be a good replacement and he was with Gov. Noem on all major developments the past six years. I formally want to support Lt. Gov. Rhoden and look forward to working with him the next two years.
So, Tim, what did she say? She started off by saying our economy in South Dakota was the strongest economy in the nation. How do you top that? She then went over her budget proposals.
The one pot of money that made my jaw drop is unclaimed property. Not like the store Unclaimed Freight furniture. This is property that goes into our treasury. The part that’s almost unbelievable is money that banks write off as unclaimed bank accounts. They add them up and then write the state of South Dakota a check. One bank wrote us, we the people, a check for $150 million!
Because of our excellent business climate, many banks have their charter here in South Dakota. Consequently our state receives these amounts of money from what the treasure’s office call unclaimed property.
I urge you to google or search for the governor’s budget address for Dec. 3 because there is a lot in there and yes it affects all of us citizens. Just a couple of other items that were a surprise to me: The first was $4 million for education savings accounts up to $3,000 per student. These savings accounts will start off with low income families. Second, Medicaid expansion. We in South Dakota get penalized because of our robust economy, while a state that’s economy is in the tank gets more help with Medicaid expansion. Seems backwards to me.
Now for the big item: a new men’s prison. Our current penitentiary was built before South Dakota was a state (Nov. 2, 1889). We have acquired land in Lincoln County next to Minnehaha County where the Sioux Falls and the current penitentiary is located. We have been socking away money since the Covid crisis for this prison and have in savings $567 million for the new prison. We need to appropriate another $182 million to allow us to pay cash for this new facility. By doing this, paying cash, we will save upwards of $76 million in interest.
Lastly, I have a huge announcement. We are dropping a bill, before session even starts (Jan. 14, 2025 is the first day) to give actual residential property tax relief! The bill raises the state sales tax from 4.2 cents to 5 cents. This increase generates approximately $280 million dollars, all of which goes for residential property tax relief. This equates to $416 per $100,000 assessment. Did you read that? If your home is assessed at $400K, then $416x4=$1,664 in property tax savings. No kidding. It’s a huge benefit that is desperately needed.
Rep. Tony VenHuizen of Sioux Falls is the prime sponsor in the House and Sen. Randy Diebert from Spearfish is the prime sponsor in the Senate. Sen. Hulse, Rep. Ladner and yours truly are co-sponsors.! Wow! That is a big hooah hooah!
Until next week..
To the citizens of District 30 and the men and women in uniform, in honor of all who served, in respectful memory of all who fell and in great appreciation to those who serve today, thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you.