Texas County’s superintendents, in a letter to the State Tax Commission, charge that the administration of the county’s tax assessing system is costing it money, hindering education. The school heads say fluctuating property values make it difficult to develop budgets.
At issue are figures for the current tax year that show that personal property assessments in the county dropped by nearly $2.3 million. Of the 10 school districts that have boundaries in the county, only two showed any increase: Mountain View, $3,026; and Cabool, $527,932. In the Houston School District, the drop was nearly $1.22 million.
In the county, the assessed valuation of real property was pegged at about $117 million, which was up about $6.3 million from 2006. “Are we driving fewer vehicles, have fewer cows?” asks a county superintendent. “And there basically was no new construction at Plato.”
In a letter received by the State Tax Commission, Texas County Assessor Debbie James and Texas County Commissioners Don Shelhammer, Linda Garrett and Joe Whetstine, the superintendents say the assessed valuations of real and personal property for the current school have fluctuated dramatically.
“It has also been pointed out that deadlines established by state law have not been met by the assessor’s office and continuations have been issued. This information has been confirmed by county and state officials,” superintendents from Houston, Summersville, Mountain Grove, Cabool, Willow Springs, Plato, Success, Raymondville and Licking wrote.
The superintendents say James has told them rather than implement an index provided by the State Tax Commission, she intends to assess each property, many that have been missed in past years. “By taking this course of action, Mrs. James has stated that taxpayers will benefit. However, this process will take time,” the superintendents wrote.
In a letter to taxpayers whose valuations have already changed, James pointed the finger squarely at the State Tax Commission for the problems. “The State Tax Commission has been hounding the assessor’s office for the last three years to raise the index percentage [used to calculate property values], not only this office, but all offices in the state of Missouri. They gave me a number that they wanted the increase to go to, which was 2.20, but I have resisted their request,” she wrote. “An increase of that size would increase most taxpayer taxes about 81 percent or more.”
James told taxpayers that she was given an ultimatum by the state: Either raise the index or they would stop all funding to her office. Ultimately, James opted to review all property and include any improvements that were made. “We had to at least pacify them,” James wrote.
In a letter last week to the school superintendents, the three-member State Tax Commission, which funds about 51 percent of the cost of the assessor’s annual $191,304 operation, says a current plan allows the assessor to complete her parcel-by-parcel review by Dec. 31. “After completion of the review, a thorough market analysis will be performed. The market analysis will provide the necessary information for establishing true value of all property in the county to insure updated valuations for 2008 reflect market value,” the tax commissioners wrote.
According to internal documents between the State Tax Commission and the county assessor, Texas County has 16,118 parcels of property. On Sept. 12, about 9,729 had been reviewed – or about 60 percent. A month earlier, the tally stood at 57 percent. Stephanie Hyder Stevens, a State Tax Commission representative, said the goal of having 75 percent reviewed by Aug. 31 was not met.
“I do not foresee the final review being completed by the projected target date of Dec. 31,” she said.
State Tax Commission documents show on May 30 that the county commission and assessor met with it concerning a timetable to complete the work in the assessor’s office and was withholding its funding of the office.
In a letter dated June 6, the state body:
-Said it would release reimbursements for January, February and March once it could verify letters of new property valuations were sent to owners. Those funds have since been released.
-Told county leaders it would reimburse Texas County for April, May and June if the review of the 75 percent of the parcels was completed. According to the Sept. 12 report, the last on file, about 60 percent is complete. The total is about $20,000. Another nearly $21,000 has been withheld for 2007’s third quarter.
At the end of September, $21,247 was remaining in the assessor’s budget – enough to last about two months based on expenditures.
“The State Tax Commission will continue to monitor the review progress, and when Ms. Stevens has verified the assessor and her staff have completed the review of 75 percent of the parcels, we will immediately release the reimbursement funds,” wrote Robert E. Epperson, manager of the technical assistance section of the State Tax Commission.
Related links:
Assessed valuations in Texas County
Assessor’s letter to taxpayers
Superintendents’ letter to State Tax Commission
State’s response to superintendents.