Property tax bills are coming to the fore

Greetings! Week five down. We got a four-day weekend which was great. I got back to God’s country.
I spent Saturday, Feb. 15, at crackerbarrels in Rapid City and then in Hot Springs. I really enjoy seeing old friends and meeting new ones at these events. Attendance at both events was great with a full house at both locations.
The next crackerbarrel, combining Custer and Hill City, is at the Hill City Center (I thought it was called the senior center). It’s from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Feb. 22, and all are welcome.
Things are coming along with property tax bills finally getting a hearing. The reason it was on hold was for our new governor to put together a work group of legislators to come up with some type of property tax relief. Kudos to Gov. Rhoden for listening to and really trying to address this crisis facing all homeowners.
So, what did the property tax group come up with? By the way, our own Rep. Trish Ladner was on this committee. Yay Trish! Gov. Rhoden’s proposal based on the property tax work group looks like this:
• Cap growth in owner-occupied home valuations for 5 years
• Plan would also put stricter limits on annual growth of local governments (county) property tax collections and expand eligibility for property tax relief programs. This will be in the form of a vehicle bill SB216 (SB=Senate Bill). Remember, HB is House Bill.
• This plan won’t lower anyone’s property tax bill directly but will make adjustments to slow future increases.
• This plan will cap growth of owner-occupied homes at 3 percent a year for five years. It will not make changes to commercial property or ag land. Keep in mind that that farm/ranch homes are under the category “owner-occupied” and apply here. Their ag land is taxed separately, so they do get a benefit also.
• The governor’s bill would limit annual growth based on new construction and home improvements to 2 perent and apply the same limits (2 percent) to schools capital outlay funds. Schools use their capital outlay funds for land, buildings, and equipment.
• Lastly, this bill will increase income limits and state property tax freeze relief programs for elderly and disabled people. This is only for residents who have lived in the state for the last five years. Income limits would be raised from $45,000 to $65,000 for multi person households. Also, evaluations of home values would be raised from $350,000 to $500,000.
So, what do you think? Gov. Rhoden said this isn’t going to be an end-all, be-all. He went on to say there are some reasonable proposals in addition to this bill SB216.
Whew! Glad he said that because HB1019, that original one, Rep. VanHuizen, who became our lieutenant governor, was going to prime-sponsor, is changed to me being the prime sponsor. This is the bill raising sales tax from 4.2¢  to 5¢. All of the income generated ($280 million) from this eigth-tenths of a cent increase goes to owner-occupied primary residences.
This results in $417 per $100,000 assessment. So, $500,000 assessment is 5x417 equaling $2085 in property tax reduction. The beauty of this bill (HB1019) is that it is paid for!  No services changed and actual immediate relief to the bill payers of this state, the home owners.
Is that a hooah or what? Until next week.