Lots of good discussion about leasing county land on Lake Madison to GF&P to create a new public access area—be sure to bring that discussion to the Lake County Commission meeting tomorrow morning (Tuesday, 9:45 a.m., Lake County Courthouse, Madison).
Quick question: opponents of the access area say the county should sell that land for housing to generate tax revenue. But do we need any more housing to raise revenue when Equalization Director Shirley Ebsen tells us evaluations for all lakeside property in the county will go up 15% this year?
Of course, we'll all be able to cover that tax increase with our 15% salary increases. You know how rich we lake folks are.
Accessed valuation has little to do with the real and true value of the property. Most lake properties have been undervalued for years because it is so hard to keep up with the quickly raising prices. The same goes for farmland.
ReplyDeleteIndeed: Shirley Ebsen and Rick Becker's guess as to the market value of my property has little relationship to it's true value in my heart. The county's assessed valuation also has little relationship with either the demand you and I place on county services or our ability to pay for them.
ReplyDeleteMadison and Chester school districts should be jumping for joy then. Their capital outlay funds will be growing even more. Should be plenty of money to keep spenders happy!
ReplyDeleteI question how reasonable increased property value assessments are now. Particularly, with all of the business closings in Madison, I would tend to think that the value of property in Madison proper and the surrounding area should either stagnate or decline.
ReplyDeleteI agree with CAH that wages at the lake certainly aren't keeping pace with the insane assessments that are being applied now. Most wages are declining/people are taking less home. Shouldn't assessments drop off accordingly?
I'm in favor of a radical concept: the city of Madison should annex Lake Madison. The poor farm could become a city park area.
ReplyDeleteRadical indeed! Just don't try annexing Lake Herman... ;-)
ReplyDeleteWe would want to annex Lake Herman because it does not have a sewer system...at least not yet.
ReplyDeleteLake property and ag land has been valued at about one-third of its market value for several years because of the old 150% rule which hurts counties setting valuations. If a property sells for over 150% of its taxable value, it can't be used. Property valuation is supposed to be approximately 90% of market value, and that certainly hasn't kept pace at the lakes or ag land. Shirley could move them up 15% for the next ten years and not come close.
ReplyDeleteTo much focus in SD on property values. Taxes go up the lessor of 3percent or inflation. The capital outlay fund and pension fund will be the exception to that. If property values double, or fall by 50 percent the cities and counties and school general fund will all get same amount of increase in revenue. The 15 percent increae will boost the capital outlay fund by 45 dollars per 100 thousand in values.
ReplyDeleteFYI;
ReplyDeletebetween 1999 and 2004, school taxes for the general fund of the madison central school district DECREASED (not a typo, that says decreased) by 7 percent or 181 thousand dollars. Chester school district taxes increased by only 5 percent in those five years or 31 thousand dollars.
If I were you I'd give the director of equalization a bonus.
Anon 8:27: are you telling me that the house Bev and Larry built for us for $100K and the acre it sits on a hundred meters from shore are really worth $400K? Uff da!
ReplyDeleteNot sure if you are being seious or sarcastic CH. My comment means that taxes increase at a set rate, independent of assessed values. Taxes will shift to properties increasing in value faster than others, but if, like the article implied, everyones assessment increases by 15 percent, there will be no shifting and your taxes will increase just like there was no increase in assessed vaue.
ReplyDeletesorry, I responded like I was the anon 8:47, I was looking at the wrong line, sorry anon 8:47, I am 11:47.
ReplyDeleteBut one third of its market value? Hmm....
ReplyDeleteWhatever rate the taxes are increasing, property is still an obsolete basis for assessing tax. Farmers are getting their property tax replaced with an income tax (albeit an unnecessarily Rube Goldbergian one); time for Pierre to treat the rest of us the same!
New construction homes are more accurate for taxable value than older established homes which have grown in value far ahead of the assessed value. New construction has a building permit and a base value that closer reflects 90% of full and true value. You're right, your home is probably closer to full value than your parents' home or perhaps a neighbor if it was build over 25 years ago at the lake.
ReplyDeleteIt could be worse. My dad tells me that in Vermont, that great haven for progressive political ideas, some property tax statements have a line indicating the portion of property tax that applies to the view the owner sees when she looks out the window on a clear day.
ReplyDeleteProperty tax on the view?!? Holy cow—then my valuation really would be a million bucks. I wonder if my valuation would go down when some honyocker builds a house in front of me. ;-)
ReplyDelete