On Wednesday, the South Dakota Supreme Court issued its decision in Apland et al. v. Bd. of Equalization, 2013 S.D. 33. This case was the second time the Supreme Court considered the property tax assessment of rangeland property in Butte County. The first ruling resulted in the Supreme Court finding that the Equalization Director did not give “appropriate consideration” of the existence of “appurtenant and nontransferable water rights.” In Wednesday's ruling, the Supreme Court found that the Equalization Director's methodology did not comply with the Supreme Court’s previous ruling:
"We disagree [with the trial court], in part, because Director did the correct analysis to ascertain whether neighborhoods were justified. We remand for a determination of whether Director’s assessments complied with the Constitutional requirements of
equality and uniformity within the neighborhoods."
