Burke v. Butte County

Summary

The Supreme Court of South Dakota affirmed the denial of Patrick Burke's challenge to Butte County's assessment of his agricultural land. The court held that the County's valuation expert was competent despite lacking a certified-appraiser credential, that testimony about the absent private appraiser's conclusions was inadmissible hearsay, and that Burke failed to overcome the presumption favoring tax assessors' valuations.

Holdings

1. A witness need not be a certified appraiser under SDCL 10-3-1.1 to testify as an expert regarding agricultural land valuation when the witness is otherwise qualified by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education under SDCL 19-15-2.
2. A property owner may not introduce the private appraiser's valuation conclusions through the owner's second-hand testimony when the appraiser does not testify and the appraisal itself is not admitted; such testimony is inadmissible hearsay.
3. An agency may consider a property owner's testimony regarding property value but may find it unpersuasive when it is unsupported by corroborating evidence.
4. Tax officials are presumed to have acted lawfully and fairly in assessing property, and the taxpayer bears the burden of producing sufficient evidence that the assessment exceeds true and full value, lacks uniformity, or is discriminatory.

Questions Presented

1. Whether John Widdoss was competent to testify as an expert on property valuation even though he was not a certified appraiser.
2. Whether Burke's testimony concerning his private appraiser's conclusions was inadmissible hearsay and entitled to no weight.
3. Whether the County's assessment was entitled to a presumption of correctness and whether Burke produced sufficient evidence to overcome that presumption.

Disposition

affirmed