Gov. Rhoden Unveils Plan to Address Property Tax Burden
PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden announced his plan to address the property tax burden on owner-occupied property in South Dakota: SB 216A. He made the announcement at his weekly legislative press conference, and he was joined by the ten members of the property tax working group from both the South Dakota House and Senate.
“This bill is a strong solution to the property tax burden that so many South Dakota homeowners experience,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “This was the first ‘Governor’s Bill’ to be introduced in 2 or 3 years, and I’m very proud to have it as a Governor’s Bill.”
SB 216A addresses the property tax burden on homeowners in the following ways:
- Limits the increase in owner-occupied assessments to 3% countywide for the next 5 tax years;
- Caps the amount taxing districts and school capital outlay budgets can increase as a result of new construction – local government budgets don’t need to grow just because a homeowner makes a small improvement to their property; and
- Increases the maximum income limits for the assessment freeze program to $55,000 for single member homes and $65,000 for multi-member homes – the bill also increases the maximum eligible home value to $500,000.
“I want to thank all of the legislators who participated for the great discussions. Every single member of the working group is supportive of this proposal and is ready to move forward,” continued Governor Rhoden.
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Will this proposal cause a shifting increase in assessments/mill levies associate with multi-family properties? Won’t that simply cause rent to increase at a higher rate for those who cannot afford to purchase a home. As a young career professional saving for a down payment, this bill hurts me.
4 more years!
Doesn’t address expenditures. Limit State expenditures to 3% (like all other government units) increase and send more money to the property tax relief fund created 30 years ago and never truly increased.
Not gonna help ag land
1. Doesn’t do anything to address the disparity between ag land and non-ag land.
2. Guarantees assessments will always go up by 3% even if market conditions don’t warrant it because setting a limit = permission to always do that.
3. Does not address relief for past hikes. Those of us who had a 25% increase over the last three years still stuck at those higher levels.
Yes this proposal does nothing but guarantee smaller increases each year. No property tax cut, which is needed and wanted by many. We’ll probably have to wait for Dusty to get that. Just like Janklow did in 1995.
Ha
There should be no property tax on the first five acres of owner occupied land.
Am I reading this right? If you make over $55k, you get no relief?
Is it a perfect solution? No. Is it a good first step? Absolutely! Property tax is not something that can be solved overnight. It’s going to take an overhaul of the system, and that takes time. This is not the final destination — it’s a step in the right direction.
Trump is showing us that meaningful change doesn’t have to take years to accomplish.
Indeed. We need significant disruption to fix this problem and others. Frankly, that doesn’t happen via bureaucracy and committee meetings and legislative deliberation. It happens with bold leadership. Janklow did it. Trump and Musk are doing it now. Property tax in SD doesn’t get fixed with this weak effort. It gets fixed when we elect someone who has the ‘Bolz’ to make a big move. This ain’t it. And Noem had no vision to fix it either.