Property Taxes

More property tax cuts for the rich in Sioux Falls

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The Baker House, formerly Scott Heidepriem’s residence (I believe this photo, to your far left, was taken while Scott still owned it).

I guess if you can’t get a TIF to fix up your mansion, you can always get a historical designation;

A 98-year-old house and two other buildings constructed in the 20th century in Sioux Falls have received eight-year property tax moratoriums to help with maintenance and rehabilitation (through the South Dakota State Historical Society).

A home in the McKennan Park Historic District also received a property tax moratorium. The Baker House at 503 E. 21st Street is a Tudor Revival style of architecture that needs replacements.

While I think the State Theatre could use it, I am struggling with a private residence. Not only is it a behemoth three-story mansion, but besides being worked on (for over a year now) it is also been added onto. I think it is great that someone is ‘fixing up’ a historical home (for the record my house is 125 years old and could use some repairs) but to ask for a property tax cut? Seriously?

The wealthy already enjoy low taxes in South Dakota and NO income tax, now when they buy (an already well-kept) mansion, they want a tax break?

Oh, I can hear it already, I’m a hypocrite because I posted in the past about TIF’s for cleaning up older homes in the central part of the city. Trust me, when I talk about fixing up homes in the core of the city, this place DOES NOT come to mind. I live about a mile from the home and walk past it weekly with the dog. When Scott owned it, it was well taken care of, and after he sold it, I noticed the new owners doing a massive rehab on it. Don’t believe me, just drive by. It is straight EAST of the Tennis courts at McKennan Park on 21st Street.

Wonder who the new owner knows on the Historical Society’s board of trustees 🙂

The Value of TIF’s in Minnehaha County

Commissioner Jeff Barth sent this information to me from the county’s equalization office;

The combined worth of TIF’s in Minnehaha County is $91,326,856.  Of this number the base value (Number that is taxed and distributed to all entities) of $28,861,936 is subtracted from the total leaving $62,464,928 that is considered increment value and is taxed and used to pay off the Increment Districts.  I can show you individual projects if needed.  TIF’s are in the County, Sioux Falls City, Brandon City and Dell Rapids City.

So are the county’s tax valuations accurate and fair?

Interesting that we were just talking about this the other day on the blog, and our ever increasing property taxes. But this puts a new twist on it;

A lawsuit rising from a disputed property tax assessment involving Minnehaha County could set a troublesome precedent, county officials say.

Hutchinson Technology is suing the county, claiming the sale of a 300,000-square foot building to Sanford Health in 2009 showed the county greatly overvalued the building for tax purposes. The site at 2301 E. 60th St. had been the Hutchinson Technology campus. Sanford acquired it to be its research headquarters.

The most recent assessed valuation before the sale was $18.6 million. But Hutchinson Technology sold the site to Sanford for $12 million. Now Hutchinson Technology is challenging tax assessments from as far back as 2005 and possibly to 2001, according to Kersten Kappmeyer, Minnehaha County state’s attorney chief civil deputy.

Make no mistake, I have often thought state and local governments are greedy when it comes to taxing individuals, nickel and diming us on higher utility rates and fees. Continuing opt-outs for crime prevention and punishment (when changing state laws for non-violent drug offenders would fix the problem) while handing out TIF’s to the big boys and not taxing profits of corporations.

If the County loses this lawsuit, the ripple affect could be devastating, for their coffers anyway.

Why does the SF School District have so much in reserve funds?

As I was reading this article about teacher raises (which I fully support) something else in the article concerned me;

The school district can afford the pay hike because it has spent less than it planned to for years and has an oversized reserve fund. Their 2013-14 budget alone looks to spend $6.6 million of their $22 million in general fund reserves.

$22 Million in Reserve Funds! As our property taxes continue to increase why does the school district have so much in reserves, when . . .

1) They haven’t discussed substitute teacher pay increases.

2) The city continues to give out property tax breaks in the form of TIF’s to private developers.

3) There has never been a discussion about building a public indoor pool at one of the High Schools.

It seems the school district is swimming in money, so why do my taxes continue to go up?