Minnehaha County equalization director reports modest market gains, warns of effect of Senate Bill 216

Minnehaha County Director of Equalization Chris Lillard briefed the County Commission on March 18, 2025, on the office's 2024 assessment results, appraisal methods, appeals activity and how recently enacted Senate Bill 216 could change how valuation changes are distributed across property classes.

Lillard said the county's 2024 assessment process produced a countywide level of assessment of about 90.3% and an average market change of roughly 5.09% for the year. He told the commission the office continues to use the three standard appraisal approaches'cost (using Marshall & Swift cost tables), sales-comparison and, where applicable, the income approach for income-producing properties.

The update matters because county-assessed values feed the taxable-value equalization process used to set levies and because the recently adopted Senate Bill 216 will cap the owner-occupied increase at 3% for the coming period, which Lillard and commissioners said will shift the remainder of allowable growth to non-owner categories rather than reduce total county taxable value.

Lillard…