County commission sets road tax levy

JACKSON, Mo. -- The Cape Girardeau County Commission set the road and bridge tax levy at 23 cents per $100 assessed valuation on Monday, up a fraction from 22.84 cents a year ago because of a drop in assessed valuation.

But county officials said it could be October before the tax rate is definitely known because the rate first has to be scrutinized by the state auditor's office, which determines the maximum tax each county can levy based on a formula that takes into account the assessed valuation.

State law requires counties to set their tax rates by Sept. 20 even though the state auditor's office has the final determination as to whether those rates are within legal limits.

"We have the cart before the horse," said Gerald Jones, presiding commissioner.

H. Weldon Macke, county auditor, acknowledged that the tax rate procedure doesn't make much sense.

"It's an old, archaic thing," he said of the law.

The 23-cent road and bridge levy is expected to generate about $700,000 for the county's highway department.

The county commission didn't levy a real estate and personal property tax for the county government's general revenue fund. County taxpayers haven't paid a general revenue fund levy for 20 years. Cape Girardeau County is one of only a handful of Missouri counties that doesn't levy a general revenue property tax.

The county's sales tax brings in enough revenue -- $5.3 million a year -- to eliminate the need for a general fund levy. State law requires 50 percent of the sales tax money to be used to roll back the general revenue property tax.

Counties have until Sept. 20 to provide the necessary tax rate information to the state auditor's office for review.

Preliminary figures

But the state auditor's office provides some preliminary tax calculations for counties.

Those show that the Cape Girardeau County Commission could legally set the levy for the county highway department at just under 23.69 cents, said Glenn Campbell, a spokesman for state Auditor Claire McCaskill.

Campbell said the state auditor's office provides a check on tax rates. "We will make sure a county is not over charging," he said.

Campbell said the assessed valuation in Cape Girardeau County's road and bridge district dropped from $311.6 million a year ago to $310.9 million this year.

Macke said drops in assessed valuations of several major manufacturing plants, including the BioKyowa feed additive plant and the Lone Star cement plant, contributed to the overall valuation decline.

BioKyowa shut down a manufacturing line and Lone Star's assessed valuation dropped because of equipment depreciation.

Jones said industrial buildings aren't a big factor when it comes to assessed valuation. "It is what is in it that runs the price up," he said.

The commission set the tax rate following a public hearing that attracted only one member of the public, Jen Sievers of Jackson.

She lamented the lack of citizen interest in the tax rate hearing. "Most people don't take the time," said Sievers.

Sievers, who didn't raise any objections to the tax levy, said she just wanted to hear what commissioners had to say about the tax rate.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123