Staff Report

The Mehlville Fire Protection District Board of Directors voted unanimously Friday to approve a resolution setting the district’s 2010 tax rate at 67.1 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

The blended tax rate of 67.1 cents per $100 is 7.8 cents more than the current tax rate of 59.3 cents per $100. The 2010 tax rate is the maximum that can be levied by the district.

Some final adjustments to the residential and commercial tax rates resulted in a slightly different blended rate than the 66.7 cents per $100 of assessed valuation previously publicized, according to board Chairman Aaron Hilmer.

District voters in April 2009 overwhelmingly approved two propositions reducing the fire district’s tax-rate ceiling by a total of 40 cents. Approval of Proposition 1 and Proposition 2 has resulted in the district not being able to collect nearly $10.5 million in tax revenue annually.

Hilmer and board Treasurer Bonnie Stegman first took office in April 2005 after running a campaign in which they pledged to eliminate fiscal waste and roll back Proposition S, a 33-cent tax-rate increase approved in November 2004.

Voter approval of the two tax-decrease measures made permanent what the board had been doing on a voluntary basis since it set the the district’s tax rate in August 2005, essentially rolling back the 33-cent Prop S increase. At that time, the district’s tax-rate ceiling was $1.22.