From the Dakota Scout, South Dakota State Senator, Tamara Grove, is claiming owner-occupied status of her Sioux Falls Home to get a discount on the tax bill, despite claiming residency 3–4 hours away in District 26, according to this article today at the Dakota Scout:
On county property filings, Grove claims the home as a single-family owner-occupied property, a classification which designates the building as her principal residence. It also comes with a lower property tax bill, which records show she’s been paying on the home under that tax designation since at least 2017.
and..
“There’s actually many people that leave here and go to different states for extended periods of time after they leave here,” she said. “I live in Lower Brule. You could literally ask anyone if I am there.”
The Scout reached out to representatives of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribal government, which has a presence in the town, who could not corroborate Grove’s assertion that she was a full-time member of the community.
Uh oh..
Whatever, Cory Heidelberger has a SD political blog and lives in Nebraska! 😀
Almost all of Mr. H’s bloggers are out-of-staters. They are all enamored with the Great State of South Dakota, so they fret and fawn on the goings-on. This morning, at the Conservatives with Common Sense breakfasting the Opening Rant will attend to out-of-staters and residents of places outside where they represent, and more importantly the carpetbaggers who move to South Dakota to try and jam their insanerness down our maws.
Will the out of staters be there? If so, how will they get there? A number of them cannot legally drive anymore.
The carpetbaggers do bring their chaos to South Dakota.
And it’s about time. SD has to many incestuous relationships going on in the hierarchy. Same names, same BS
Eewwww! False!
Put the proof in the pudding. Would love to hear all these names you’re talking about.
3-4-1.5
Events causing vacancy in office.
An office becomes vacant if one of the following events applies to a member of a governing body or elected officer before the expiration of the term of the office; the person:
(5) Ceases to be a resident of the state, district, county, municipality, township, ward, or precinct in which the duties of the office are to be exercised or for which elected;
Either the office is vacant do to her not living in her district or she appears to be committing tax fraud and needs to at least pay the back taxes she owes.
Why choose only one.
Indeed, Mr. Stalzer.
Wait! Back up the truck! You are telling us we have another SDGOP legislator that makes sure everyone knows they are a Christian, a faith leader in their church and now we find out they don’t legally live in the legislative district they were elected or running to serve? Playing the Christian card mans they are supposed to be beyond reproach right?
Former District 1 legislator who was caught and resigned Chris Reder appears to back in his legal home in Minnesota so everything seems to be squared away there but this brings up questions.
Sioux Falls resident Al Novstrup who is running in District 3 again. That needs a deeper investigation.
What about the South Dakota state senator who allegedly lives across the border in North Dakota?
It seems we have South Dakota candidates and elected officials playing fast and loose with residency and campaign finance laws
You forgot one? Let’s at least call a spade a spade….whose started this??
Who started this?
Looks like Anonymous 11:29 is unable to answer their own question.
I thought her husband, Ian, was some sort of faith leader or pastor at the Hope Center /Assembly of God Church out there. She used to show up at a lot of Republican events in Sioux Falls but I haven’t seen her at any for a few years now, not since the St Pat’s Day parade of 2022.
Are you sure she didn’t move & neglected to tell the county treasurer the home was no longer owner-occupied? Maybe she just needs to pay some back property taxes.
Tax fraud or election fraud – pick your crime
Since tax bills are sent to the lien-holders (banks) and paid directly from an escrow account, and not sent directly to the “owners,” I would not be surprised if many people do not know how their homes are taxed. The tax bill has the designation of owner- or non-owner-occupied on it, but if you never see it, you would be unlikely to think about it..
Not always true. Once you get a high enough loan to value ratio, the bank will let you pay tax and insurance and the escrow goes away. I’ll give you a valiant effort for defending a criminal though.
My lienholder pays my property taxes via escrow and I still get a tax bill from the county treasurer annually. State law requires the tax bill to be sent to the owner of record, not just the lienholder.
You have to file a form for Owner Occupied status
The owner still gets a tax assessment statement in the mail with the status on it. Also, I can’t put duct tape over my odometer and drive as fast as I want.
That’s it Lee. Right there. Binary choice.
The general lack of candidate quality control is embarrassing. A party has a duty to make sure its candidates and elected officials are qualified for the offices they hold. Sadly, dereliction of duty is par for the course in this state.
Manhart tried to slip in his first run being a Wisconsin resident but withdrew after he was called out.
Reder one term after caught and called out.
Novstrup????
The Brown County Republican Party has appears to have a history of some very questionable actions. Power at all costs with what they can get away with until caught and called out? Other candidates regardless of political affiliation were cheated out of their opportunities.
Again we forgot who started this issue.
Please specify.
And district 23 has a candidate, Ms. Werdel, who was a convicted felon before Noem pardoned her. 3 dui convictions. Yet no one is aware of this. I suspect bad life choices lead to bad legislative choices. She’s not that long in the tooth, so 3 DUI offenses is very concerning.
Who did she endorse for Governor and who voted to put the 10 Commandments on our school walls to teach our kids not to lie or steal?
She has endorsed Hanson-Lems.
Watched her video and she is defiant and is blaming everyone else except herself.
That’s all the Hanson/Lemps disciples do. Blame everyone but themselves.
She has to go. There’s been lawsuits and decisions on this issue. Claiming a residence where you want to be elected is a no go. How many nights a month does you live in the rez? And if it’s a majority, then why is she getting a tax break in Sioux Falls?
Does it really matter who wins the primary? After this battle the Dem is winning the seat. Save your time and money. Rez vote and opposition vote…Dem wins
Negative. D26 is a Republican stronghold now.
What about a physical address, citizenship, and place of voter registration of the individual? Those previously qualified as a means for running for public office. Are you saying now that an individual who prefers to rent, rather than to have home ownership, is not qualified to run for public office even though they meet the physical address, citizenship, and voter registration requirement of a district? If you are saying that, then no person running for public office should be allowed to run for office, or vote in any election unless they are a home owner (not renter), nor should they be granted citizenship in any district if they are a renter. Maybe state law needs clarification, but I can only envision chaos if clarification is attempted.
So you’re saying it’s tax fraud. I can go with that one
Lee, is registering an address on a political petition and living elsewhere electron fraud? If so, what is the penalty for doing so?
Not sure on that, but falsely receiving Owner Occupied Status has enforcement in SDCL.
Penalty for fraudulent receipt of owner-occupied single-family dwelling classification.
Any person who receives an owner-occupied single-family dwelling classification by misrepresenting the facts as to the person’s ownership or occupancy of the dwelling shall be assessed a penalty equal to ten dollars per thousand dollars of valuation on the subject dwelling, which assessment shall become a perpetual lien on the property pursuant to § 10-21-33. The person shall be barred from receiving the owner-occupied single-family dwelling classification for any property in the state for the following three years.
And the likely way she’s gotten by with it for so long, she admits in the video. She said the church owns the house in which she and her husband live. If that’s the case, and to my knowledge, church owned property is not taxed.
Calm down, Karen. It’s not that hard to get a verification of rent from a landlord.
Just so you know….
Truth hurts at 11:43 PM IS NOT
The Truth Hurts
11:43 Probably owns Mr. Rooter as well.
You know, the imitation Roto Rooter?
Well, Mr. Truth hurts, you’re no Roto Rooter
and That’s the Truth.
Wow thanks for specifying…..does it matter??
The election fraud is coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE!
Where is leadership in yet another scandal? That’s right! There is none!
In South Dakota, an owner-occupied dwelling must be your principal residence, you must own and live in it by November 1, and it must be the only property you claim as owner-occupied in the state. This classification makes the property eligible for significantly lower property tax levies and state credits.
Core Eligibility Requirements Principal Residence: The home must be your primary residence where you live for the majority of the year.
She states in a video that her children live in the house in Sioux Falls that is receiving owner occupied status under her name. Exceptions and Special Rules Family Occupancy: A property can still qualify for the owner-occupied rate if it is occupied by your parent, or by an adult child with a disability, provided you own the home.
Maybe new candidates should be investigated as well if only listing a box number as an address. Both physical address and box number should eliminate suspicion of fraud. Location of residence could then easily be checked. Argument could be that the person travels with a job. How many days a year? If it is the majority, then how could anyone represent a district where he/ she is not present most of the time? Think it over. I see rough waters ahead for some.
the State Law is that to establish residency here, you need spend only one night here. You can get a mailing address and apply for a driver’s permit using the receipt for your overnight motel or campground fee. You can register your RV with the campground address.
Then you can register to vote.
To qualify for owner-occupied tax status you need only occupy the home for half the year, and it has to be your “principal” residence.
It seems perfectly possible to spend half the year living in an owner-occupied home, and one overnight in a campground, and get a driver’s permit with a mailbox address, and get your mail at the campground, because that is all that is required to establish legal, not principal, residence. If you are spending only one night in the state, obviously your principal residence is somewhere else. 1500 RVers are now designated as “Federal Only” voters because although they are considered SD residents, and are registered to vote here, they don’t live here. Everybody knows they don’t live here.
The fact that the law stipulates that one can claim only one home for owner-occupancy, indicates that it is understood a person could have two homes and live in each one for half a year, but can claim only one within the state. The law is much more particular about what constitutes owner-occupied homes, and very lax about what is required to be a resident of the state. The residency laws need to be tightened up.
Grove’a opponent is asserting that Grove does not live in the district, but agrees that she is registered to vote in it. Why do we allow people to register to vote after spending only one night here? Isn’t that really the problem, that people are allowed to establish residency and register to vote after only one night in a location, meanwhile maintaining a principal residence somewhere else?
SDCL 12-1-4: For the purposes of this title, “resident” means an individual who maintains an actual fixed permanent dwelling, establishment, or any other abode where the individual lives and usually sleeps, for at least thirty consecutive days.
SDCL 12-4-1: An individual is entitled to register as a voter of this state if the individual: (1) Is a citizen of the United States and has provided sufficient evidence, as set forth in § 12-4-1.4, to demonstrate the individual’s citizenship; (2) Is a resident, as defined in § 12-1-4, of the precinct in which the individual is registering as a voter;
According to SDCL 10-13-39, “A person may only have one dwelling, which is the person’s principal place of residence as defined in § 12-1-4, classified as an owner-occupied single-family dwelling.”
Therefore, someone’s place of voter registration should be directly tied to the home they claim an owner occupied status on. And they have to be there 30 days, not 1 night.
Again I ask, what is the penalty for falsifying your nomination petition by putting an address that you don’t live at down as such?
Well, in order to legally run for office you must be a resident of the district you are running in. She’s not legally a resident of where she is running. She should be disqualified.
She is legally a resident. She has her voter registration in d26. What is the penalty for falsifying a legislative petition?
The circulator of the petition can receive a Class 6 felony if they falsify it. But the circulator and the candidate are two separate things. SDCL 12-6-8 doesn’t state a penalty for falsifying the declaration of candidacy by the candidate.
More importantly, just because you keep saying she is a resident of D26, doest make it right. She may have registered to vote in D26, but that voter registration is not legal. SDCL 12-4-1 defines where you are a resident. 12-4-1 is specifically referenced as the place where you can have owner occupied status (SDCL 10-13-39) AND where you are eligible to vote (SDCL 12-4-1).
If Grove is claiming owner occupied status on a home in Sioux Falls, that home is legally her residence. It is also the only place she can legally be registered to vote. Her current voter registration in D26 is not valid.
If the SD Canvass folks cared that much about election integrity and actually stood for what they scream so loud about, they would be all over this. But it has been crickets. Wonder why?
SD Canvass folks were surprisingly silent in past cases where a legislator they were politically aligned with had to resign. Plus they appear to have no interest in investigating reported concerns about other legislators who they also align with.
so how is it that 1500 people who don’t live here are registered to vote here
this is nuts
SD election: 1,500 federal-only voters ahead of June 2 primary under new laws
https://share.google/eRC1aUkqa2CToG1JF
Only 1500….I know that to be way more.
Here’s what this all comes down to for you, the Voters of District 26: You have two candidates asking to represent you in the state senate. One appears to believe she is above the law and uses two addresses/residences, each when they fit her for a specific purpose, but clearly the old saying “You can’t have it both ways” applies.
If you have a candidate that personally makes decisions, not based on the law, but ignores the law for personal benefit: do you really want that person making decisions, laws, and voting on your behalf?
I happened to see a social media video this same candidate recorded of herself going on about data centers and how we don’t need them (now think about this: using social media, which requires data processing, to say that we don’t need data centers — so to me, not being able to understand logic and an issue that has been discussing like no other this past year — either she refused to understand the issue or is incapable of doing so — that would be another reason I would not consider voting for this individual…), but she was also emphatically complaining about her opponents’ supporters by saying, “They’re lying! They’re lying!” …and then we learn about this… wow.
District 26 Voters: I urge you to look to the core of the person and decide who is trust-worthy and honest. You can have discussions, you can sit down with your legislator and talk issues, learn from each other, talk to them if you ever disagree on a vote or an issue, persuade and lobby them on issues important to you, etc., IF you have someone who is trust-worthy and honest and willing and capable of listening. If someone is willing to defraud/deceive for personal gain, what will they do when they represent you in state government? Your choice is very clear on this one.
The other candidate has falsified her nominating petition. You know the old saying, those who live in glass houses.
Don’t believe you. If it were true you would have posted it.
Me thinks me is headed to the Treasures office on my next trip to the hills. It will be much cheaper for me to make my vacation home in Spearfish, that I stay in occasionally but rent out most of the time, “owner occupied” as opposed to my primary residence which I pay cents on the dollar for property taxes in NE SD. Thanks for exposing this loophole Tamra. This is gonna save me $1000s of dollars annually!
Maybe if everyone like Tamara actually paid their correct amount/classification of property taxes like they were supposed to instead of conveniently taking an illegal tax break, we maybe wouldn’t have the property tax problem we have.
I just saw that Tamara commented on her own post on Facebook that she’s going to go to the courthouse on Tuesday to fix her little tax classification issue, so she thinks this is just a correctable error. No harm, no foul. Ooopsies.
Using that logic, can a bank robber come to his/her moral senses later, return the money and “let’s just call it even”, no big deal??? Seriously. She is totally acting like she’s above the law.
A lawmaker evading the law. Lying in one county while living in another. Not a common citizen, but someone who’s making laws for the rest of us, and is asking voters to trust her with their vote. Think about that, District 26 voters.
No voters from the District numbered 26 read bloggings, except Ms. Reimers. Who is insaner than most but actually deserves to be reelected against this Ms. Grove slovenknockerkitch.
District 26, stand up straight and be like a real district.
I bet it’s going to be like a lot of county corrections. They would rather just have a delinquent tax bill corrected and paid up than spend money prosecuting anybody. The IRS does the same thing if you make a mistake on your federal return. They just want the money, plus a penalty.
It has to be a pretty egregious offense to be referred for prosecution.
BAH. Tax fraud. Wipe her from the legislatures, send her back to the oblivions from whence she came. That’s what God would do.
Is anybody going to bother to run down Sam Marty’s actual residence? It’s not even a secret in his district that he lives in ND. Somehow gets elected, with his awful sister’s help, and spends his time in Pierre taking naps.
Liz May, the people’s watchdog, is remarkably quiet on this issue.
That’s a lot of comments. Are we still talking about Grove, or did we start talking about Ms Nolz who did the same thing?