South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Final assessment figures show decline in school district’s commercial valuation

Final assessment figures from the county Board of Equalization show a 6.6-percent decline in the assessed valuation of commercial real estate within the Mehlville School District from the preliminary figure the district used to set its 2009-2010 commercial property tax rate.

The district’s tax rates were set Aug. 27 to meet a Sept. 1 deadline.

However, Mehlville officials had to use preliminary assessment figures to set the rates because the county assessor’s office hadn’t yet received post-Board of Equalization valuations.

State legislation that would’ve extended taxing bodies’ deadline to set their rates to Oct. 1 was vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon this summer. However, the assessor’s office was working under the Oct. 1 deadline, and only preliminary assessments were available at the end of August.

The final numbers, released in mid-September after taxpayer appeals to the Board of Equalization, show decreases in all four of the school district’s assessment categories: residential, agricultural, commercial and personal property.

The most significant decrease was that of commercial assessed valuation. The district set its 2009-2010 commercial tax rate at $2.9177 per $100 of assessed valuation based on the preliminary commercial assessed valuation of $330,153,040.

But that figure is now $308,427,520 — a decrease of 6.6 percent. That means the district could’ve set its commercial rate at $3.1232 per $100 of assessed valuation, Chief Financial Officer Noel Knobloch said.

However, Knobloch said the district would be able to set one-time “interim” rates next year — 2010-2011 — to recoup any revenue lost because of the drop in assessment.

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