The South Dakota Senate voted 20 to 13 to concur with House changes to Senate Bill 245.

The bill creates a homeowner property tax reduction fund. 

It transfers about 55-point-9 million dollars from the general revenue replacement fund into that fund next July. 

Starting in 2027, revenue tied to the state’s expiring 0.3 percentage-point sales-tax reduction would also go there.

Supporters, like Senator Jim Mehlhaff, said the plan spreads education costs more broadly and sends relief to areas where homeowners have been hit hardest.

Opponents said the bill gives relief only to owner-occupied homes while other taxpayers help carry the cost.

Republican Sen. Casey Crabtree of Madison said lawmakers should have waited another year before settling on this approach.

Under the bill, the money must be used to reduce the local effort for general education levies on owner-occupied single-family dwellings.

The measure now goes to Governor Rhoden.