STATE AUDITOR TELLS SCHOOLS HIGHER LEVY MAY BE A VIOLATION

In a three-page letter to school superintendents, Missouri Auditor Margaret Kelly warned that parts of Senate Bill 380 may be unconstitutional and that complying with its $2.75 minimum levy without a vote could violate the Hancock Amendment.

In the letter, Kelly told superintendents that although they may have been advised school boards can raise property taxes without a vote of the people, that advice may not be correct. She also advised them that her office would not certify tax rates for school districts which she believes are in violation of the amendment.

"In my opinion, increases in local property tax rates for the purpose of producing additional tax revenues require voter approval under (the Hancock Amendment) of the Missouri Constitution," Kelly said.

She said the amendment allows increases in property tax rates without a vote of the people when those increases result in a neutral tax revenue impact.

Said Kelly: "However, the increases under the new school-funding law are not revenue neutral, and, therefore, require a public vote under the Hancock Amendment. If a public vote is not taken and the district increases its levy above the tax-rate ceiling computed under the Hancock Amendment ... my office will not certify or approve the district's tax rate. My decision to not certify a tax rate is released to the public and the media. As you know, local taxpayers have standing to challenge an excessive levy."

But Robert Bartman, commissioner of elementary and secondary education in Missouri, said the "General Assembly has clear authority" to order increases in local property tax rates up to the levels they reached before a 1982 rollback.

Bartman also said school districts should presume that all legislation passed by the General Assembly and signed into law is constitutional and comply with it.

Bob Buchanan, superintendent of schools at Sikeston, said he can't understand why Kelly is raising concerns now about the minimum levy because legislators have also hiked local levies in 1990 and 1992 as a requirement to receive state funds.

In 1990 the minimum levy was raised to $1.25 per $100 assessed valuation and in 1992 it was hiked to $2 by the General Assembly.

Said Buchanan: "She didn't raise any questions to HB-1478 last year and the increase in 1990, so my concerns are, why now? HB-1478 passed in 1992 required a minimum levy of $2 and that is what our school is going to now."

The increase to $2.75 will be made next year.

Buchanan also said a Missouri Supreme Court case in 1992 upheld the right of the state legislature to require a minimum local levy after a group of citizens in the Greenville School District challenged the $1.25 minimum levy that had been imposed.

Buchanan said if Kelly does not certify the levy for his district there is nothing he can do about it. "It is our intention to comply with state law," he said.

"She says in her letter, `in my opinion,' but we can't run schools by opinion. SB-380 is law and school districts must obey the law."

Buchanan said there are problems with SB-380 and that parts of it might be challenged in court; however, he does not believe the minimum levy is an issue that will be challenged.

Kelly told the superintendents: "We have a responsibility to our citizens and taxpayers to meet educational needs within the framework of our constitution and statutes."