Inspiration

Wednesday Morning May 20^th @ 10;30 we had the fortunate opportunity, to listen to Bill Zubke inspirational speaker.  Bill taught us how to live our life in one letter.  The letter “L”- Laugh, Learn, Love and to leave a Legacy. Quote “The world should be a better place because you were here.” Bill addressed how to take our existing baggage and “repack”, getting rid of the negativity; and replacing it with lessons learned.  Also, quite a Chef, we had the pleasure of tasting his homemade fudge.  I feel Mr. Zubke is one person we can all learn from.

Again, as Bill says “Laugh, Learn, Love, Leave a Legacy. Enjoy Life”. Bill's web address is: http://www.ezbzspeak.com/.

Polly Odle

CSDA Luncheon Meeting

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Shannon Rittberger presiding

CSDA members attending included Shannon Rittberger, Pres.; Kyle Helseth, Sec.-Treas.; Gary Denke, Harvey Kistler, Eli Whitney, Mike Burgee, and Shirley Mackey.  Those appraisers in attendance who are working on the CSDA designation were Gene Nelson, Lori Mackey, Renee Buck, Jenny Mitchell, Bobbi Zimmerman, Dawn Puckett, Patty Caster, and Rownea Gerbracht.

Pres. Rittberger introduced the 2009 CSDA designee, Erin Asheim who was welcomed by the members.

Pres. Rittberger then explained the procedure involved for entering the program, the grading sheet, and why it is beneficial to learn to write an appraisal report in our profession.  There are guides available to assist in writing the demonstration appraisal report.  The application will be on the SDAAO web page.

The same slate of officers will be serving again this year.

Shirley Mackey

Active CSDA Members

South Dakota Retirement System-SDRS

On Thursday, May 21^st at 2:00, Robert Wylie from the South Dakota Retirement Systems spoke.  He began his presentation with a statement that he will be talking about “US”, not just about our jobs. 

One of the benefits of working for county government in the State of South Dakota is that we qualify for a South Dakota Retirement plan.  He really wanted to be sure we understood what benefits there are, and where SDRS sits as far as standards go.

He handed out a few summaries and fact sheets.  As of May of 2009, there were 73,486 total members of SDRS.  Of that 6,751 of them were county employees.  These employees are offered, not only lifetime pension benefits, SDRS also sponsors 2 voluntary retirement savings plans.  These 2 plans are:

        Governmental Deferred Compensation – Supplemental Retirement Plan

        Termination Pay  Plan – Special Pay Plan

The SDRS have substantially exceeded funding standards for fiscal year 2008.  The market value funded Ratio was 104%.

If you want to see the hand-out they had for us there, click here.

Rownea Gerbracht

Dating Windows

On Thursday, May 21, 2009, we were lucky enough to have Dick Boetcher give an interesting talk about windows and how to approximate the age by the glass. It certainly helped explain why some windows leak heat so bad and why it may well be worth it to replace the windows in an older home.

He also gave us some information and a hand-out about the tax credit requirements and some of the criteria needed for windows, doors, and skylights to qualify for the tax credit. With rising energy costs new windows may help provide long-term energy savings and add value to your home.

Madonna Costello

Left: Patty Caster helps while Mr. Boetcher demonstrates the efficiency of old and new windows.

Professor / Extension Specialist Dr. Burton Pflueger is the Farm Financial Management Specialist with the SDSU Cooperative Extension Service and is a Professor in the Economics Department. He received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics at the University of Illinois and has been a faculty member at SDSU since 1985. His major responsibilities include conducting Extension education programs in the areas of agricultural finance and farm management and teaching in the area of agricultural cooperatives.  He has authored numerous papers and publications, and has received various research grants for SDSU. A native of Nebraska, Dr. Pflueger is married and has two children.

Productivity 

Dr. Burton Pflueger & Dr. Larry Janssen

Dr. Larry L. Janssen, professor of economics, earned his Ph.D. (1978) and Bachelor of Science (1971) degree in Agricultural Economics from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. He received his Master of Science degree in Agricultural Economics from Oklahoma State University (1974). He joined the Economics faculty and Agricultural Experiment Station at South Dakota State University in 1978. He teaches courses in agricultural policy, agricultural finance, rural real estate appraisal, and economic development. His research focuses on agricultural land market and land use issues, agricultural finance, and conservation policy / management issues. From March thru June, 2000, he was a SDSU faculty exchange professor to Chungnam University, Taejon, South Korea.

Dr. Burton Pflueger presented a discussion of the productivity analysis of ag land assessments. He began with a history of the legislative process, discussed key features of the new process, then answered questions from the audience. 

Dr. Pflueger defined the formula for the productivity based assessment process as: 

            County Ag Land Value = County Ag Income Per Acre / Cap Rate 

He identified the key features as:
1. County values for crop and non-crop acres
2. Gross return from ag production
3. Ag income per acre- Landlord share
4. 8 year Olympic average
5. Cap rate
6. Localized adjustments 

Dr. Pflueger discussed some points of interest regarding the productivity process for assessment. He stated that some factors relating to market value will not be considered in the income analysis. He pointed out that the average county value per acre will not be the same as the value for a specific property. He also said that an attempt to minimize a shift in value state-wide will not prevent changes in value on a certain property. 

Dr. Pflueger then responded to questions from the audience. He stated that the cap rate will be 6.6%. He said that preliminary numbers indicate an increase in ag incomes for 2008. He expressed “100%” confidence in the numbers obtained from the ag statistics survey. He said that the legislative committee discussed the influence and affects of irrigation, but determined that irrigation is a management decision and that very few counties will have crop prices or rents that are influenced by irrigation. 

Michael Kenyon, Director of Property and Special Taxes for the South Dakota Department of Revenue and Regulation followed the productivity presentation by Dr. Pflueger. Mr. Kenyon described the plans that the Dept. of Revenue has in place for the transition to the new ag valuation process, and then answered questions from the audience. 

Mr. Kenyon started by stating that the Dept. of Revenue needs county abstracts to prepare information to send back to the counties. He said that the state will not send only crop and grass land values, but will send all numbers involved in the calculation and formula. He said that the Dept. of Revenue will be scheduling workshops across the state to provide technical assistance to counties and information to the public. 

Mr. Kenyon discussed valuation changes that the local county assessor can make within the productivity assessment process. Minor valuation changes to parcels that have a negligible affect on the total county valuation can be made without approval from the Dept. of Revenue, but should only be made with proper justification. Major changes to the Table 1 or that would impact the total county valuation will require agreement with the Dept. of Revenue to prevent an argument over the resulting taxable factor. Mr. Kenyon stressed that these situations exist in the same manner for the present market value based assessment process. 

Mr. Kenyon briefly discussed the possibility of neighborhooding ag valuations. He stated that if a region within the county can be identified as better as or worse than the average crop yield, then a neighborhood can be established. 

Mr. Kenyon then answered questions from the audience. Several questions focused on valuation adjustments that the county assessor can make. Again, it was stressed that adjustments will be made in the same manner as at present, but that the justification for those adjustments will be based on some sort of income or productivity factor. It was explained that the assessment of ag buildings will be based primarily upon the cost approach to value. The final question was about the appeal process, and he stated that most appeals under the ag productivity assessment will likely be focusing on the equality issue rather than the parcel’s market value.

Shannon Rittberger

Forms Meeting

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Colleen Skinner presiding

Elderly and Disabled Assessment Freeze-

• A suggestion to change the phrasing to “Parcel number of property for which 2009 assessment freeze is to apply” on the second page of the application; no changes made as the date is on the front of the application.

• Further explanation was called for on the deadline for assessment freeze; Colleen said they can apply for the freeze at anytime and it will be accepted. If after the deadline, it will be put on for next year (2010). We refuse this year (2009) and they can file for an abatement on next year’s (2010) taxes.

Disabled Veterans Property Tax Exemption-

• After the initial application, a disabled veteran never needs to apply again unless they purchase a different home.

Paraplegic Veteran Property Tax Exemption-

• The widow of a paraplegic veteran can receive exemption until remarriage or moves. Can still receive exemption with application on new house if it is wheelchair accessible.

Owner Occupancy for Developers-

• A developer can receive Owner Occupied status for two years on four houses in a development. Only four houses per company or individual.

• Would like to have a Central List of Developers so they are not getting more than four Owner Occupied status across county lines within the state.

Spec Homes-

• Would like to see moving permits for spec homes that are built on blocks to be moved later, just like the Mobile Home moving permits.

Janelle Goddard

Department of Revenue & Regulation

Friday 9:00am 

Colleen spoke to us on Friday morning, reminding all counties to get in our abstracts so we can get productivity numbers for next year. Should be an interesting year or so for all of us, with the Ag change coming up.   She also went over what classes we will be having for school in September.   Senate Bill 161 was briefly touched on, prohibiting the use of federal income tax credits when assessing property.  If anyone has any questions for our field people, Bonnie is taking the north half of the state, and Karla the south half. 

Heather Collins