Opinion ID: 2074696
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: whether the possibility of an unavailable supply of water affects land values when said land is theoretically irrigable. [6]

Text: In this issue, taxpayers assert that: ... `irrigability' can have no effect upon the value of land until and unless there is irrigation water available[,] and [t]he water available for irrigation of the land of [taxpayers] comes from the Redwater Irrigation Canal and their right to draw such water stems, not from ownership of their land, but from ownership of stock in the Redwater Irrigation Corporation which constitutes personal property and which can be transferred separate and apart from the land. These statements may be true, but they really are not relevant under the holding of the trial court. As we previously recognized and held in Butte County: [T]he circuit court's determination that the actual implementation of an irrigation system is not a proper consideration [for tax assessment purposes] and that irrigated land should not be separately classified. This does not mean, however, that the land's irrigability, whether actually irrigated or not, is not a relevant consideration when assessing agricultural land value. The irrigability of land enhances its value and this Court has so recognized. See Basin Electric Power Coop, Inc. v. Cutler, 254 N.W.2d 143 (S.D.1977); and Nebraska Electric Generation & Transmission Coop., Inc. v. Tinant, 90 S.D. 284, 241 N.W.2d 134 (1976). Thus, to the extent the land is irrigable, because of its location, soil, terrain, topography, and appurtenant and nontransferable water rights, see SDCL ch. 46-5, its value may be assessed appropriately. (footnote omitted) However, to the extent irrigability is already considered in the market value analysis, soil survey, etc., it should not be separately reevaluated, for double taxation based on this single factor would result. 385 N.W.2d at 112. The trial judge, complying with our holding in Butte County, in voiding the 1987 assessment, held that the assessor had improperly considered the shares of stock in Redwater Irrigation in setting the assessed values and had generally not followed statutory directives (as interpreted by us in Butte County ). However, in the findings and conclusions now on appeal, there is absolutely no mention of the Redwater Irrigation Association or taxpayers' share therein. Rather, the court referred to the detailed procedures utilized by the assessor (see footnote 3) and concluded they were appropriate. As with Issue I, nothing submitted by taxpayers convinces us that the holding was clearly erroneous.