Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Tax Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Director of Equalization briefs commissioners on assessment‑cap bill and explains how TIFFs work
Summary
Director of Equalization Shauna told the board assessment notices were mailed and summarized a state bill that would cap annual assessment increases for owner‑occupied residential properties at 5% with a full revaluation every fifth year; she also explained tax‑increment financing (TIFF) mechanics and commissioners raised concerns about delayed payoffs.
Shauna, Codington County’s Director of Equalization, told the board assessment notices were mailed in late February and reviewed appeal deadlines and upcoming consolidated‑board and county‑board meetings. She urged constituents to use the appeals process and noted deadlines for the June primary and the general election filing timetable.
On pending legislation, Shauna summarized a state bill the county is monitoring that would restrict annual increases on certain property assessments. "Right now it's sitting at having non‑owner properties not go up more than 5% per year — individual properties, not countywide," she said, describing the bill as providing for a maximum annual assessment increase with a full revaluation every fifth year.
Commissioners and Shauna then spent extensive time explaining tax‑increment financing (TIFF) districts to the public and one another. Shauna described the TIFF mechanism: a base assessed value is set for a site and the increment — the increase in assessed value after improvements — is used to repay loans for a specified period (commonly 20 years). She said the base value still generates tax receipts for jurisdictional entities; the increment is what pays TIFF debt. "It's basically delaying for whatever period of time it is — 20 years — before we start receiving the taxes on that improvement," she said.
Board members raised concerns that TIFFs in earlier cycles sometimes did not deliver promised revenue because development took far longer than expected or projects left the area. "What I have seen in my many years is that they disappear. They move out and then we're hung. We don't ever recoup any of the taxes," one commissioner said. Shauna acknowledged older TIFFs have sometimes taken many years to pay off and said newer TIFF structuring and narrower project scopes are intended to improve payoff prospects.
Shauna and commissioners agreed the county must remain objective in valuation and that appeals and procedural safeguards remain important. They encouraged constituents to contact the director’s office with questions and noted the city administers TIFF creation and contracts while the director must implement valuations consistently for tax‑assessment purposes.
