John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight
South Dakota lawmakers in Pierre have property tax proposals aplenty to discuss, built upon 19 ideas from a tax relief task force and others from the governor and individual legislators.
On Thursday, they tore through a flurry of the bills, leaving some in the conversation and dropping others out.
The activity came a day after Gov. Larry Rhoden signed a property tax bill into law for the first time this legislative session.
Senate Bill 12 adds to an existing law that exempts from property taxes the homes of veterans who’ve lost both legs or the use of both legs. The new law lets those veterans or their surviving, unmarried spouses apply for four years’ worth of refunds if they missed prior application deadlines for the program, or missed deadlines to have their home classified as owner-occupied.
Also on Wednesday, the state Senate voted 23-10 to back a resolution that would ask voters to legalize statewide mobile sports betting — on smartphone apps and websites — and put 90% of the gambling tax revenue toward property tax reduction. Currently, sports betting is only allowed at casinos in Deadwood, and the resolution says the computer servers for mobile betting would still have to be located there. Tribal casinos would get the same opportunity. If the House of Representatives also says yes, the question will be on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Here’s a rundown of some other bills that advanced or failed on the last day of the lawmaking week, and where the survivors are headed next. The legislative session began in January and continues until mid-March.
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House Bill 1241: This bill would raise the amount of home value exempted from property taxation from $200,000 to $225,000 for veterans rated as permanently and totally disabled from a service-connected disability, and for their surviving spouses. In the other chamber, Senate Bill 126 would raise the value to $300,000.
The House Taxation Committee voted 11-0 to send HB 1241 to the House floor. The Senate Taxation Committee voted 5-0 on Wednesday to send SB 126 to the Senate floor.
House Bill 1193: This bill tweaks the same exemption for completely disabled veterans adjusted by HB 1241. It would require local boards of equalization to give up to four years’ worth of refunds to otherwise qualifying vets and their spouses who failed to qualify for the partial exemption while they were awaiting a decision on a permanent and total disability claim from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
The House of Representatives voted 62-0 in favor. Next up: A Senate committee.
House Bill 1253: This one would change the way owner-occupied and commercial property values are calculated. Instead of looking at the annual increase in property values, HB 1253 would require counties to use an eight-year market average to set taxable values for individual properties (after lopping off a county’s highest and lowest property values). The idea would be to blunt the impact of spiking valuations. The bill also would bar a tax shift to ag land to cover any losses and put the onus on school boards to adjust budgets if necessary.
The bill moved from House Taxation to the House floor on a 7-5 vote.
House Bill 1258: If this bill becomes law, property tax bills sent from counties to homeowners would have to include a QR code that could be scanned by smartphones to view a state Department of Revenue website with information on property taxes and tax relief programs.
The House passed the bill on a 60-2 vote, sending it to a Senate committee for consideration.
Defeated
House Bill 1218: This bill sought to help small businesses and family owned “owner-operator” businesses by requiring that tax levies on their commercial properties be 25% lower than they are for “investor-owned” commercial properties. It fell under the weight of worries over the administrative burden on counties, shifting tax burdens onto other classes of property owners, and questions about who might qualify as a small business for tax purposes.
The bill was defeated 7-5 by the House Taxation Committee.
Senate Bill 200: The more the state pays for education, the less schools theoretically need to get from local property taxpayers. This bill deals with the first part of that equation. By law, the state has to increase education funding every year by 3% or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. But lawmakers can and do reset the baseline, and the state’s missed the mark on multiple occasions in the past three decades as a result. Gov. Rhoden wrote no increase for school funding into his proposed budget, but an unexpected boost in revenue may change that.
Senate Bill 200 would do away with the statutory requirement for increased funding, which its sponsor called “an illusion” akin to a “lucky pair of socks.” Opponents said the law’s target is important guidance.
The Senate Education Committee voted 5-1 to table the bill. That’s where it will stay unless the full Senate opts to bring it up for debate.