Butte County v. South Dakota State Bd. of Equalization, 12019

• Decision Date: 22 February 1978
• Docket Number: No. 12019,12019
• Citation: 263 N.W.2d 140
• Parties: COUNTY OF BUTTE, a Public Entity, Appellant, v. SOUTH DAKOTA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, Respondent.
• Court: South Dakota Supreme Court

Page 140

263 N.W.2d 140

COUNTY OF BUTTE, a Public Entity, Appellant, v. SOUTH DAKOTA STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION, Respondent.

No. 12019.

Supreme Court of South Dakota.

Argued April 25, 1977.

Decided Feb. 22, 1978.

Horace R. Jackson of Lynn, Jackson, Shultz, Ireland & Lebrun, Rapid City, William Delaney, III, State's Atty., Butte County, Belle Fourche, for appellant.

John P. Dewell, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent; William J. Janklow, Atty. Gen., Pierre, on the brief.

MORGAN, Justice.

This is a companion case to the case of Hot Springs Independent School District v. Fall River Landowners Ass'n, S.D., 262 N.W.2d 33, Opinion filed January 25, 1978. Although this case arose in a different fashion, the basic issue as presented by the appellant is the same; that is, whether the Department of Revenue, through the county directors of equalization, is in compliance with SDCL 10-6-33.1 when it fails to value agricultural land solely on the basis of capitalization of return.

In 1974 and again in 1975 the State Board of Equalization (State Board) in conformity with SDCL 10-11-47(3) had raised the valuation of certain lands in Butte County identified as "Abstract Item A" (and being agricultural lands outside the corporate limits of any municipality) by ten percent and six percent respectively over the assessments as approved by the County board. The county appealed both of these actions to the circuit court, and upon agreement, the appeals were consolidated. The parties in addition to stipulating certain evidence and agreeing that the facts were not in dispute stipulated that the issues to be decided by the trial court were:

(a) Did the State Board lack jurisdiction to raise real property values in Butte County in 1975 in view of the appeal pending on the 1974 valuation increase?

(b) To what extent does SDCL 10-6-33 through SDCL 10-6-33.4 permit or require the use of market sales data in arriving at full and true and taxable valuations as those sections were in effect in 1974 and 1975, with respect to the appeal of those years?

(c) Did the State Board correctly apply SDCL 10-11-47(3) to real property values in Butte County as the same had been equalized by the Butte County Board of Equalization in 1974 and 1975?

In response to the first issue, the trial court concluded as a matter of law that the State Board did not lack jurisdiction to raise the property values in 1975 in spite of an appeal pending on the 1974 valuation increase. In response to the third issue, the trial court further found that the State Board correctly applied SDCL 10-11-47(3) and as to the second issue, which the trial court considered the main thrust of the appellant's case, it concluded that Chapter 79, Session Laws of 1970, (now codified as 10-6-33.1) does not preclude or...