Director of Equalization

The Director of Equalization Office is responsible for discovering, listing, and assessing property at market value to ensure that the property tax burden is equally spread across all taxable property in the county. The only property not involved in this process is the valuation of Agricultural land.

The Director of Equalization must be certified by the South Dakota Department of Revenue and must be recertified every five years. Requirements for re-certification include: attending and passing the annual Department of Revenue sponsored school, attending workshops, and attending the South Dakota Association of Assessing Officers Conferences.

AGRICULTRURAL LAND ASSESSMENT
Ag land in South Dakota is assessed based upon its potential productivity value. This productivity value is not based on what your land is producing. It refers to the potential productivity of the soil types within the parcel you own. The South Dakota Department of Revenue contracts with the Economics Department of South Dakota State University to determine the productivity value for this system. The data used by SDSU to establish this value is from official publications by the United States Department of Agriculture and the National Agricultural Statistics Services.

ASSESSMENT NOTICES
Property owner’s assessment notices are mailed on March 1st of every year. Each property owner should ask themselves: “Could I sell this property for its assessed amount?” If the answer is “no,” the property owner should contact the Director of Equalization.

PROPERTY ASSESSMENT APPEAL PROCESS
If you disagree with the assessed value of your property, you can appeal your valuation to the local township board on or before the Thursday preceding the third Monday in March of each year. If the property is in an unorganized township, you can appeal to the County Board of Equalization on or before the first Tuesday in April of each year. An appeal must be made the year the assessment is received. The appeal process addresses the assessment of the property, not the taxes.

PROPERTY TAX AND MILL LEVY
The local governments and taxing districts yearly budgets are what determines the amount of property tax that is required. The total budget needs in a jurisdiction is then divided by the total assessed value of all property in the jurisdiction to calculate the mill levy. The mill levy is then multiplied by the assessed value of your property to calculate your tax bill.

WEBSITE
Public information of land sales and property information can be found at this website: corson.southdakotadirectors.com