SCHOOL LEVIES SET WITH LITTLE PUBLIC INPUT

Missouri school districts recently completed the annual chore of setting tax levies. This process is one of the more fundamental obligations of the elected board members who each year must decide what tax rate will generate needed revenue based on current assessed valuations of property.

This year, most Missouri districts had to contend with statewide reassessments, and that certainly was the case in Cape Girardeau County. In addition, the Cape Girardeau School Board also had to factor in tax rates to accommodate the bond issue and tax-rollback waiver approved by voters last April.

When the tax-setting process was completed, the rate for the Cape Girardeau district was set at $3.38 for each $100 of assessed valuation, a 50-cent increase from last year. In Jackson, the school levy was set at $3.21.

Several years ago, the Missouri Legislature mandated that hearings be held before tax rates are set by various governmental entities: school district, cities, counties, library districts and the like. Each year, these entities schedule public hearings prior to voting on the tax rate.

Typically, these hearings are a mere formality, because no one shows up other than the elected officials and their administrators.

There are several reasons why taxpayers don't take advantage of the tax-rate hearings. One would be that most taxpayers think their protests would go unheeded. While it is true that the calculations by which tax rates are determined have already been made by the time of the hearings, there is little doubt that elected officials would listen carefully to any reasonable information that might affect those calculations.

Another reason taxpayers don't typically go to the tax hearings is that most taxpayers have come to rely on elected officials to make those decisions prudently and wisely. After all, voters expect the folks they elect to do a good job.

And still another reason is that, in spite of broad complaints about overtaxation and the burden of paying for government, most taxpayers understand that there is a definite cost associated with public education. In large part, many taxpayers see rates of $3.38 and $3.21 for each $100 of assessed valuation as an education bargain.

The big surprise this year, however, will be the impact of reassessment. Now that the tax rates are set, the tax bills will be figured based on the new assessment, and in cases where new assessments went up dramatically, tax bills will go up accordingly.

Taxpayers who are unpleasantly surprised should take this year's tax bill as an invitation to become more involved in the budgeting, spending and tax-setting processes of local government.