Board approves multiple property assessment corrections, including fire losses and removal

The Brookings County Board of Equalization approved a slate of corrections to 2026 property assessments on April 14, citing on-site visits, owner applications and recent property damage. For one case staff said a mobile home had been removed and taken to the landfill; the assessor's office recommended correcting that parcel's value to $0 and removing it from next year's roll.

Staff explained another correction followed an owner application and income verification leading to a reclassification from non-ag owner-occupied to ag owner-occupied. The board also approved corrections for properties where structures were declared total losses after fires (Mark Lighty's house from an April 3 fire and Douglas Stein's barn from an April 2 fire). In each case staff explained it was administratively simpler to correct the assessment now rather than await a post-tax-bill abatement. "This house was declared a total loss because of a fire on April 3," staff said when recommending the Lighty correction.

The board carried motions for each correction after brief comments; the Chair called for ayes and recorded motions carried for each listed parcel. The meeting packet included parcel numbers and the assessment rationale for each correction, and staff noted the McCullough property had been appraised by a bank ahead of a sale and warranted a lower corrected assessment.