It’s Spring!!  A time of renewal—trees are springing to life, flowers are budding, grass is green again.  The out-of-doors is seeking your attention.  Time for gardening, golf, bird watching or just sitting in the sun.  So who wants to talk about taxes?  My suspicion is no one!!  So why do I?  The state of Missouri has adopted a new procedure for property taxes (real estate and personal property).  The purpose is two-fold:  (1) to inform you before the final tax level is established of your estimated tax bill; (2) to place a ceiling on tax rates in reassessment years.  Let’s look at each and how they will play out. 

1. 2009 being a reassessment year, you have received your property assessed valuation (real estate and personal).  The aggregate valuation for the City has been supplied to us.  We, in turn, estimated the City taxing rate and forwarded it to the County.  All taxing authorities within their respective districts have done the same. See the chart below for the taxing authorities within our district.  Our estimated city tax rate is the same as last year.  Using these estimated rates from the various entities, the County will mail you an estimated tax bill by June 15.  When you receive this estimate, if you believe it to be unfair, you can appeal your assessed valuation to the Board of Equalization.

2.   A property tax rate ceiling is established for each taxing authority within all taxing districts.  These ceilings are the rate authorized by citizen vote.  The rates for last year’s taxing district authorities are also shown by the chart below.  These rates shown may or may not be below their respective ceiling.  For your City, the ceiling rate changes each year as the state calculates a rate necessary to produce the same level of revenues as in the previous year less new construction.  In other words, the City’s property tax revenues only increase with the amount of new construction.

 Bottom Line:

You will receive in June an estimated tax bill giving you the opportunity to review before the rates are finalized.  If you don’t like what you see, you have the opportunity to voice our concerns and/or objections to the appropriate organization.  If you feel your assessment is not correct, the Board of Equalization will hear your appeal this summer before the final rates are set. 

Let’s go back to Spring.  Are you one of those statistics being quoted “most people will be staying home this summer, working on their homes with additions, etc.”?  If you are or not, most of us, when we do get outside, survey our domicile and its’ surroundings—it seems there is always something needing to be done.  When this happens, before you make final plans, call City Hall.  Why call us?  The City ordinances are designed to assist in maintaining and protecting property values.  We have adopted the International Building Code with some local modifications.  A call can help you determine what’s needed, etc.