Three factors are multiplied to calculate taxes:
- Your properties assessed value, this is mailed to you each year in March on your assessment notice.
- The State Factor, this is calculated by the State of South Dakota Department of Revenue and represents how close to market value property in the county is assessed.
- The Mill Levy, each tax district has it’s own set of Mill Levies for each type of property class (AG, Owner-Occupied, Non-AG). The Mill Levy represents that amount of money per every thousand dollars of assessed value that must be collected to pay for the budgets of the County, Ambulance, Fire Department, School, and City/Township (if applicable) that service that tax district.
The State Factors for taxes payable in 2018 for Fall River County are:
- 0.85 for AG
- 0.908 for Non-Ag & Owner-Occupied
So in March my assessment notice said my property was worth $100,000. My property is Owner-Occupied so my state factor is 0.908 and my tax district is #6 so my Mill Levy is 19.861. (look up here: Mill Levy Sheet 2017 (pay 2018), Hot Springs is #6, Oelrichs is #33, Edgemont is #39, your tax district will also be listed on any old tax bill)
So to figure my taxes I first divide my value by 1,000: $100,000/1,000 = $100. Then I multiply this value by my state factor and mill levy: $100 x 0.908 x 19.861 = $1,803.38 will be my taxes due in 2018.
Because taxes are calculated by multiplying three factors an increase or decrease in any of them will change your taxes. Even if your Mill Levy decreases an increase to your assessed value or state factor could still cause a tax increase. In the same way an increase to the Mill Levy may not raise taxes if your assessed value or state factor decreased.
