Pipestone County reviews 2025 sales study; most property classes near target assessment ratios

Pipestone County officials reviewed the county'wide 2025 sales study June 16, reporting that most property classes are within the department'recommended assessment range after adjustments to map areas, land values and other valuation factors.

Chris Hollingsworth, speaking for county staff, told the Board of Appeal and Equalization that the City of Pipestone had 50 qualified sales this year and a final median ratio of 92.53. Edgerton recorded 19 sales with a 92.56 ratio, Jasper had eight sales and a 94.64 ratio, and the county'wide small cities grouping finished with a 93.32 ratio. Commercial properties ended the study with a 96.5 ratio, and agricultural land reached a 92% final ratio after map-area changes, Hollingsworth said.

The presentation outlined several valuation adjustments the assessor'office used to reach those medians. Hollingsworth said the office removed a size-obsolescence adjustment used in earlier years for small houses and stopped applying an "overbuild" adjustment for large houses. He said the county'level manual building-cost schedule is currently at roughly 100% and will likely be raised next year to reflect construction-price increases. "I gave all you guys copies of our sales studies for this year," Hollingsworth said. "Our Vanguard, our software system, ... gives us that cost."

Hollingsworth described routine map-area adjustments within cities (for example, different neighborhoods in the City of Pipestone are treated as separate map areas) and said land values are monitored so land generally represents about 10%–20% of a property's overall value. He said staff raised some land values in Jasper and in several small cities after low sales ratios indicated land was undervalued.

Agricultural sales decreased this year and factored into the county'wide results: Hollingsworth said the county had 19 ag sales this year compared with 40 last year. He also noted a statewide change affecting the homestead-tier threshold for agricultural property: the state raised the first-tier threshold from $2,150,000 to $3,500,000 and staff were told it will increase to $3,800,000 for taxes payable next year, which could affect future taxable values for some farms, he said.

Hollingsworth provided counts of sales and short-term indicators of how current sales are affecting medians: Pipestone had 35 new sales to date and a 93% median on those; Edgerton had seven new sales with a 90% median; Jasper had seven new sales and a 94% median; small cities had 10 new sales at an 89% median; rural residential had five new sales with a 113% median (which Hollingsworth said may require lowering values); and agricultural had 13 new sales and a 90% median so far.

No formal board votes on valuation policy changes were recorded at the meeting; staff presented the sales study and explained adjustments they had made or planned to make in the assessment system. After a short public check for questions, board members moved to adjourn. "Is there a second? Second. Thank you, Dan. Motion second to adjourn. All in favor signify by saying aye," a board member said, and the meeting ended.

The briefing will inform the assessor's continued work to finalize values and to prepare notices and appeals processes ahead of the next tax cycle. The county did not announce any ordinance changes or formal, board-adopted valuation rules at the meeting.