Cape Girardeau County schools will benefit from SBC-AT&T tax dispute settlement

School districts in Cape Girardeau County will share more than $161,000 in added tax revenue as a result of the settlement of a tax dispute involving the state tax commission and SBC Communications, now AT&T.

Most of that money will go to the Cape Girardeau and Jackson school districts, Cape Girardeau County Collector Diane Diebold said Monday. She estimated the county's two largest school districts each will receive between $60,000 and $70,000.

But the money won't be distributed until March as required under state law, Diebold said.

As a result, school officials aren't making spending plans just yet.

"We won't budget it until the following fiscal year," said Brenda McCowan, director of finance for the Cape Girardeau School District.

The tax money earmarked for school districts is part of more than $215,000 that is being shared by local governments throughout Cape Girardeau County from 2005 tax money paid in protest by the telecommunications giant.

Except for the school districts, local governments received their share of tax money last week resulting from the settlement. That's because their share of the tax money is distributed differently, Diebold said.

"Everybody else got their money upfront," she said.

The other entities include the Cape Girardeau County Highway Department, which received $47,100 and the Cape Special Road District received $3,800. Other local recipients: City of Cape Girardeau, $3,600; Riverside Regional Library, $2,900; city of Jackson, $2,100. Seven rural fire districts in Cape Girardeau County split another $8,000, Diebold said.

The Missouri State Tax Commission issued an order on Oct. 12, finalizing the settlement with SBC.

SBC had objected to the state-calculated property tax assessment on its facilities in Missouri. The company agreed to pay 35 percent of its property taxes under protest while appealing the case.

But some counties withheld 100 percent of the tax money paid by SBC pending the outcome of the assessment dispute, said Marilyn Baumhoer, manager of original assessment for the Missouri State Tax Commission.

Diebold said she withheld only 35 percent of the SBC money owed to local governments in Cape Girardeau County. That money was put in a separate account where it earned interest.

Diebold said withholding 100 percent of the money would have been a burden on local school districts because they receive the bulk of property tax money. The Cape Girardeau School District would have been short $400,000 or $500,000. Jackson would have been short by about $350,000, Diebold said.

"I was really surprised last year that SBC only agreed to protest a percentage of the bill," she said.

As a result of the settlement, SBC ended up with an 8 percent reduction in its assessed valuation on which its local property taxes are based, Baumhoer said.

Locally, SBC received a refund of nearly $64,000 from the money it had paid in protest on its 2005 tax bill, Diebold said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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