Township Clerks can download their forms from the 2024 information. As things change, I will update the forms as needed.
- Combined Oaths (Clerk and Treasurer) and Board Members report form.
- Combined Clerks Certification and Levy Request for the county auditor.
- Township “road and bridge” levy information and resolution form.
- South Dakota Department of Revenue webpage on OPT OUTs for (non-school) local governments.
- The pre-printed / pre-formatted opt out resolutions on pages 6 and 7. Be sure to note the difference between the two forms.
- 2023 payable 2024 Property Tax Summary report.
- This is where you find out what your base levy (dollar amount) is now and that is the number you can add the CPI factor to.
- The Road & Bridge Levy is requested as a mill-levy up to $0.50 / thousand.
- The OPT – OUT Levy is requested as a dollar amount up to the limit set in your current (active) resolution.
- South Dakota Department of Revenue “Consumer Price Index for 2024 – Taxes Payable 2025”
- A township may increase its “base” or general levy by the amount of the CPI without having to opt-out.
- For example, If “Township A” levied $5,500 to be collected in 2024 for the “base” or general levy, their new base / general levy would be: $5,500 * 3% ($165.00) for a new base / general levy of $5,665.00.
- The CPI only impacts the base/general levy and is applied to the dollar amount, not the mill levy. The CPI is not applicable to any opt out or road & bridge levy. The opt-out is a dollar amount up to the maximum authorized in the opt-out resolution and the road & bridge levy is a mill levy stated in cents per thousand, up to fifty cents.
- List of Opt-Outs on record with the Department of Revenue:
- Summary of Opt-Outs for Townships as of March 2024 (ignore the school data)
- Yellow entries are 2023 payable 2024 opt out levies.
- Green entries are opt-outs between 1996 and 2003 which have no expiration data.
- Uncolored entries are opt-outs after 2003 which are currently valid.
- Summary of Opt-Outs for Townships as of March 2024 (ignore the school data)
- MINUTES (They are extremely important)
- For each type of levy your township utilizes, a separate notation should be in your minutes. I suggest a paragraph for the general (base) levy, a paragraph of the opt-out levy and a paragraph for the resolution (in full text) for the road and bridge levy.
2024 values and growth to calculate the 2025 payable “BASE / General taxes”.
This link will provide you with a report produced from the SD-DOR property tax portal from data submitted by the assessor and later the auditor. You can use this information to calculate your township’s property base or general taxes. It doesn’t pertain to opt-outs which are limited to a fixed dollar amount set by the township board of supervisors. It also does not pertain to the road and bridge levy as that too is set by the township board of supervisors and only during the annual meeting.
Steps, using Alden Township as the illustration.
- Combine the state’s CPI percentage (3% in 2024) and the township’s growth percentage (0.05%) to get 3.05%.
- This 3.05% is the amount a district can raise their levy (in dollars) without having to opt-out of the tax limitations.
- From the report (linked above), use the total value of property, in this example, that is $38,286,484, as it will be need in the formula later.
- Using the link above, from the March meeting, locate your township’s levy amount (in dollars), in this case, the general / base levy was $6,934.14. Do not use the opt-out or road & bridge levy dollars in your formula.
- Take the value in line 4 ($6,934.14) times the 3.05% from line 1 to get the new base for 2025 (payable taxes). In this case, that is $6,934.14 * 3.05% ($211.491) to get $7,145.631, rounded to $7146. This is your 2025 base.
- The levy is then calculated by taking base / general levy request ($7,146) divided by the value ($38,286,484) times 1,000 (Mill Factor) to get the percentage of 0.1866.
- Mill levies are express to the third decimal point, so it will be 0.187 after rounding. The “pay 2025” general / base levy will be 0.187 per thousand which is lower than the pay 2024 base levy of 0.188 even though the township raised the base taxes by $211.
- Caveat: When I calculate the tax levies, they are then submitted to the SD-Department of Revenue (DOR) who double checks them and makes sure they comply with the laws related to property taxation.
