Davison County equalization board seeks to be more friendly and fair to developers

Yahoo

25-04-2025

Apr. 24—MITCHELL — A local developer's increase in property taxes for undeveloped plats sparked a conversation on the mutual expectations of a county and a developer for platting and developing lots.
The Davison County Board of Equalization met on Thursday, April 17, to hear requests from individuals and businesses to lower property tax assessments.
After much discussion over several days of convening, the board of equalization had a common problem — how to be fair when assessed values seem too high.
In one of many cases, the board adjusted the assessment to roughly match what Jeremy Jensen of Jensen Design Build paid before the increase notice.
Jensen appealed the county's assessed value for 25 lots within the Stardust housing development at Urbana Drive off East Spruce Street across from Cabela's.
The property went from $3,360 in combined assessed value in 2023 to about $25,000 in combined assessed value in 2024, with taxes to be paid in 2025. This 644% increase is due partially to a singular lot being platted out into a subdivision or multiple plats.
"How can I be a developer in this town?" Jensen said. "$25,000? That's a downpayment on a model home. I (either) build another house and put something on the tax roll, or you guys take $100,000 out of me in four years. And I'll just let this thing go to hell."
Standard lots in the area sell for $1.75 per square feet, according to officials, and yet Jensen's lots were appraised at $9.32 to $9.60 per square feet.
When Jensen bought the parcel, city sewer and water was already installed down Urbana Drive, which is within Mitchell city limits. He put in underground pipes needed for six lots down Urbana Drive, but not the rest of the subdivision. So far, Jensen has installed infrastructure without tax increment financing, a process by which property taxes are used to pay for a developer's cost. After the six lots off Urbana Drive, Jensen has about 9.22 acres undeveloped.
Additionally, the board of equalization took into consideration that the rest of the subdivision has no roads or infrastructure installed.
The board adjusted the assessment to $1.75 per square foot for the first acre, and 50 cents per square feet for the remaining 8.22 acres, which came out to about the cost of the land in 2023, before it was platted.
"It's not a full market value of a developed lot, because it's not a developed lot," board of equalization member and County Commissioner Randy Reider said.
The board's decision takes pressure off Jensen to speed up development while the board comes up with a better formula to address why taxes increase after a plat is on the books, but is not yet developed, according to Reider.
"I think the house assessed value is incorrect. Of all the things that need to be adjusted, that would be the one," said Mitchell Mayor Jordan Hanson, who also noted how unlikely it is that an acre of land would sell for more than $1 million in South Dakota, an assessment he has seen regularly in Davison County.
Reappraisal in Mitchell hasn't been done in 10 years, according to Davison County Assessor Jared Olsen.
"We have so many differences that are just not accurate. It's hard to properly adjust values," Olsen said.
Filing the plats of housing developments with the county puts developers and builders at a disadvantage, according to Jensen.
"This has come up multiple times this week where someone plats it and the taxes go through the roof," Hanson said.
Board of equalization chair and County Commissioner John Claggett did not wish to penalize developers for doing their homework, but also didn't want "chaos."
And yet, platting out a whole subdivision is not required, according to officials.
"We want people to build houses, but if you make it financially not feasible, they'll just go build them somewhere else, right?" Reider said.
Reider, who is a licensed appraiser, has appraised homes in Gregory, Corsica and Chamberlain.
"Those places are so happy to have somebody build a new house. That is friendlier than we are, right?" Reider said.
Reider expressed concern that development would dry up and go away in Mitchell and Davison County, and the need to be fair to Jensen and other builders taking on projects.
"We're trying to say, 'Come on, guys. Please build more,'" Reider said.
The board heard from Cabela's, a national hunting and sporting goods retailer with a location in Mitchell, and approved one request and denied the other one.
Eric Owens, the Cabela's representative, appealed the property assessments where the Cabela's building stands and one odd-shaped parcel.
The representative from Cabela's appealed to the board via telephone. He sent 120 pages of a 2021 appraisal report prepared by Larry Allen of Allen and Associates for the board's consideration, which resulted in a hypothetical valuation of $4.25 million or $50 per square foot.
The Cabela's property was
listed for sale in 2019 for $21.1 million.
"There's only so many of these properties in the county, and you have to find actual sales transactions, and to see what market participants will actually pay for these properties," Owens said.
Owens compared Mitchell to similar sized communities in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa, which had appraisals which ranged anywhere from $12 per square feet up to $85 per square feet.
"We're asking for $92 per square feet, which I believe is more than fair for this property," Owens said.
Owens suggested that the Cabela's main property was worth about $5.1 million if accounting for 5% inflationary depreciation over 5 years. Owens noted that Walmart was valued at $62 per square feet and Menard's at $54 per square feet.
In the county's eyes, Walmart and Cabela's are not an apples to apples comparison. It's a matter of how they were built and how they look, according to assessor Carla Wittstruck.
The other Cabela's location in South Dakota, which is a Bass Pro Shop in Rapid City, is valued at $91 per square feet and the land at $4 per square feet, according to Wittstruck.
The board voted to uphold the county's original appraisal.
The board also considered Cabela's odd-shaped parcel of land between the Interstate 90 off ramp and Cabela's Drive, which measures about 33 feet at one of the shortest widths, and 88 feet at the widest widths.
Owens considered it unmarketable real estate.
"We've asked for the valuation to stay the same. That's more representative of what the value should be for," Owens said.
The parcel was being valued at the same calculation of other commercial parcels in that area at $6 per square foot.
"I don't see a reason to raise it based on it being unusable land," equalization board member Terry Aslesen said.
The board of equalization agreed, and the parcel remained at the $1.49 per square foot appraisal value.
Cabela's offered no appeal for the property assessments for two other parcels, a platted parking lot for Cabela's and an undeveloped plat east of Farm Credit Services of America.
Officials for the Davison County Board of Equalization includes County Commissioners Randy Reider, John Claggett and Michael Blaalid, and school board representative Terry Aslesen and Mitchell City Council member John Doescher. County assessor staff and Mitchell Mayor Jordan Hanson were also present.