SAINT
LOUIS COUNTY RESIDENTS
FOR PROPERTY TAX RELIEF NOW
reassessments and tax levies imposed on
NEWSLETTER
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August 24, 2008 Just a Reminder as to How St. Louis County Council members Voted for the 2007 Property Tax Increase Remember the predatory 2007 St. Louis County residential property reassessment that resulted in a median property value increase of 22% (caused by County Executive Mr. Charlie A. Dooley) for 371,000 residential property owners? Remember that four of the seven County Council Members voted to keep the County tax rate at .588 thereby causing a 22% increase in YOUR PROPERTY TAX BILL to the county government in violation of the intent of the Hancock Amendment. Three of the Council Members will be coming up for re-election in the General Election on November 5, 2008. Following is how the St. Louis County Council Members voted for a rollback of the .558 tax rate to reduce property taxes: Greg Quinn (R)
District
7 Voted yes for a rollback The three members up for re-election are from the even numbered districts as shown below. Those in red voted for the property tax increase. Blue voted against. Kathleen Burkett (D) District 2 Voted NO for a Rollback Michael O'Mara (D) District
4 Voted NO
for a Rollback John Campisi (R) District
6
Voted yes for a rollback There are seven districts in the County
and a Council member elected into each district. You are in one of the
districts. Each County Council member is elected into office in a district by YOU the voter. You can find out your
district and who your Council representative is by going to www.stlouisco.com/scripts/elections/. If you are in district 2, 4, or 6 you
can vote for one of the above or someone else who is up for
election. And by the way, contact all the folks you know and pass
this info. WE NEED TO GET ALL VOTERS KNOWLEDGEABLE AND OUT TO VOTE. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- August 13, 2008 E-mail sent to the St. County Council and Petitioners Below are the contents of the e-mail sent out to our petitioners to keep you advised of current developments: The St. Louis County Council members and the County Executive were not only responsible for causing the predatory 2007 property tax increases without voter representation, but now they refuse to listen to the voice of the voters and continue with trying to pump more money down the Metrolink black hole as well. The County Government through the appointed County Assessor was directly responsible for a countywide 2007 property value reassessment from 80% to 95% that resulted in a 22% median property tax increase on 391,000 residential and business properties. Discussions with a State Tax Commission member indicated that the St. Louis County Government did not have to cause a huge increase in assessed property value in one jump. The County Government could have caused a smaller increase, but didn’t. Then adding insult to injury the Democratic council members voted, WITHOUT VOTER APPROVAL, to NOT rollback the .558 tax rate in compliance with the intent of the Hancock Amendment. The combined huge reassessment and failure of many tax districts to rollback the property tax rates caused property tax increases of 22% plus the assessed value increases on individual properties. As a member of the 2007 Missouri Task Force for Property Tax Reform I was appalled at the testimony from many elderly and low income homeowners and small business owners who were financially devastated by the increased property taxes. Now enter Metrolink. Less than one month after five council members voted to put a 200% sales tax increase, via Proposition M, on the February 5 ballot, all seven council members voted to remove the proposal. Why? They realized that it would fail based on the 2007 reassessment farce and inherent poor management and financial problems with Metrolink. Now, here it comes again and the Democrats on the council want to put the Metrolink tax measure on the November ballot. Metrolink has gone through a bungled court case costing the county millions not to mention a profane insult from Metrolink’s CEO. The total overrun cost on the light rail extension project is estimated at roughly $300 million. This amount could have bought 1,000 buses. How many more buses are we going to lose on a bad bet? The County Council members have now voted to put the Metrolink tax measure on the November ballot to let the voters in the county decide if they want the 1/2 % sales tax increase. The council members feel that because of their vote the issue is now before the people of St Louis County, a process one member says has actually supported responses to other tax issues. How nice. If the council’s policy is to put such issues before the people then why didn’t the Democratic members of the council ask the St. Louis County property owners to vote on the predatory 2007 property tax increases? The answer is simple. In the case of the Metrolink sales tax the council is required by law to put the proposal to a vote, otherwise they probably wouldn’t. In the case of property tax rates the council can impose the large property tax increases by fiat and without voter representation. The Metrolink sales tax increase measure will fail again in November. The St. Louis County citizens are now well aware of the Metrolink money pit and the actions of the County Executive and Democratic Council members who fail to keep residential and small business property taxes and other tax issues within fiscal reason. I wonder if the St. Louis County Council members are going to vote for a property tax rate increase for 2008 that will result in another financial windfall as was pulled off in 2007? Harry W. Chambers Committee Member St. Louis County Residents for Property Tax Relief Now PS: This e-mail will be sent to 3,000 St. Louis County property tax reform petitioners and put into the Newsletter contained on website: www.stlcountytaxreliefnow.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- August 1, 2008 Does St. County Council Member Running for County Council Misrepresent? Following is the content of an e-mail we sent to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and West News Magazine. You decide if Council Member Kathleen Burkett (D) misrepresented her priorities: “Reference St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Voters Guide”, covering the primary elections, August 1, 2008. I read where Ms. Kathleen Kelly Burkett (D) is running again for St. Louis County Council Member 2nd
District. I was shocked at her
ludicrous 3rd priority statement that she listed, “To continue
my efforts to keep county property taxes low and to look for ways to alleviate the burden of taxes on the elderly and low-income families.” I want to address her priority statement. I believe that Ms. Burkett either is unable to distinguish between fact and fiction, is not telling the truth, or just flat forgot how she voted in 2007 while she was a St. Louis County Council member. In any case she does not deserve to sit on the County Council based on her voting history and blatantly conflicting statement. The reason? Because, following the infamous St. Louis County 2007 reassessment, Ms. Burkett voted along with the other three Democratic St. Louis County Council members to keep the St. Louis County government property tax rate at .558 thereby causing a median increase in our property taxes of 22%! And now she says she wants to CONTINUE her efforts to keep county property taxes low? Wow. In summary we need our representatives to speak the truth. But then, if we vote for Ms. Burkett we get what we deserve, i.e. higher property taxes and more elderly being forced out of their homes because they cannot afford the ever escalating property taxes. We continue to pay the Country and taxing districts rent on the homes we own in the form of property taxes. When we are unable to pay the rent on our homes we are evicted by the County. Wake up -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- July 4, 2008 Senate
Bill SB 711 Signed into law by Governor Blunt on July 1, 2008
Governor Matt Blunt signing Senate Bill
711 in front of home of Rex and Barbara Pearl of Kirkwood.
Key
personnel involved with passage of Senate Bill 711. From left to right we have Rep Mike
Sutherland, Rep Rick
Stream, Committee Member Sarah Haenni, Governor Matt Blunt, Committee
Member Harry Chambers, Senator
Michael Gibbons, Committee Member Tom Haenni, and Committee Member
Craig Niehaus. On July 1, 2008 Blunt signed Senate Bill SB 711 into law. The Bill was crafted by none other than Kirkwood’s own, Speaker of the Senate, Senator Mike Gibbons (R) and the very capable Director of the Joint Committee on Tax Policy, Mr. Brian Schmidt. Additionally, we were fortunate to have Representative Mike Sutherland (R) work SB 711 through the House Ways and Means Committee and also fortunate for the heavy support for SB 711 by such outstanding representatives as Jim Lembke (R) District 85, who is running for the Senate in District 1; Rick Stream (R), district 94 and Charles Portwood (R), District 92. While there were many more legislators supporting SB 711 the gentlemen listed above were prime movers and are the type of legislators that we need to keep in office. They are looking out for the taxpayers! Next, the real credit for getting legislators to push SB 711 into law is YOU, the “St. Louis County Residents for Property Tax Relief Now” petitioners. We, your committee members, have had many, many State Senators and Representatives tell us that it was the e-mails, letters, and phones calls received from you that gave the impetus for pushing through SB 711. Our combined efforts did the job and you can collectively thank yourselves for a job well done. Among other provisions, SB 711 ends the practice of taxing districts taking property tax increases caused by reassessments without voter representation. As you may recall, if reassessments go up, the Hancock Amendment requires the rollback of tax levies to offset property tax increases exceeding the rate of inflation. Remember that the loophole in Hancock Amendment allowed taxing districts NOT to comply with the Amendment if the taxing district was NOT at its ceiling. This happened in 2007 and many taxing districts received windfall property tax increases that were reflected in your St. Louis County Real Estate Tax Bill! There was at least a 22% median increase for the 371,000 residential property owners in St. Louis County unjustifiably caused by the St. Louis County government. Now, SB 711 says that during reassessment years (odd numbered years), taxing districts are required to comply with the intent of the Hancock Amendment, whether they are at their ceiling rate or not. They will be required to roll back tax rates when reassessments go up. They are still allowed, as has always been the case under the Hancock Amendment, an inflationary increase in their tax levies. However, during the NON-reassessment years, taxing districts operating below their voter approved tax rate ceiling, may still take the tax rate UP TO the ceiling, if they so desire. This is done by a vote of the taxing district’s governing body at a public tax rate hearing, which typically occurs in August. So, what does this all boil down to? In simple terms it means that the governing body of any taxing district that is not at its tax rate ceiling can in 2008 vote for a property tax increase exceeding the rate of inflation. An example would be Parkway School district which has a tax rate ceiling of 3.4570 and an actual ceiling of 2.8900. Parkway can impose a 2008 tax rate increase of .5670 without voter approval! As citizens, it is incumbent upon us to be informed about which of our taxing districts are currently operating at their voter approved ceilings. If a taxing district governing body increases the rate up to the ceiling in 2008, you will see an increase in your property taxes in that taxing district. How do you stop this??? You attend the tax rate hearings and speak out to the governing members that you do not want them to do so! Watch the newspapers in August to see when these public hearings will be held. It is up to us to stop increases, and hold our elected officials accountable for not increasing the property tax burden on us any more than the rate of inflation and reasonable modest increases in their budgets. We have provided a list of those taxing districts that are operating below their ceilings. Just go to any of our website pages and look for a window that says, “St Louis County Districts Below Tax Rate Ceilings 2007” and click on it. It will bring up a list with two tables of 98 taxing districts in St. Louis County that can zap us if they want. You can find their tax rate ceilings and the rate they are currently at (actual rate). To find out which taxing districts that you pay property taxes to just go to your St. Louis County Real Estate Tax Bill. You will be surprised to see that you are supporting about 15 taxing jurisdictions. Note that your school district, special school district, and fire protection district will take over 75% of your property tax dollars. GOOD LUCK and hope you enjoy the pictures showing some of your humble “St. Louis County Residents for Property Tax Relief Now” Committee members. The impact of SB 711 during the non-reassessment years is not quite clear and we plan to look at this carefully. It appears that the tax rate in the even years will not have to be rolled back to maintain tax levy neutrality when assessments go up during the odd years. Consequently, property taxes could easily exceed the rate of inflation in the even years. And, what happens to property taxes when the assessed value of property goes down? Will our governing bodies give us a tax break? We feel the bottom line is that the tax rate and reassessment process is broken, confusing, discriminatory, expensive, and predatory. While SB 711 provides some relief we need a different method of financing the taxing districts. State sales tax? California proposition 13 type property tax? Combination? We are looking into it. Last but not least SB 711
provides significant changes to the Homestead Preservation Credit that were
authored by Representative Portwood.
He was successful in
adding a provision to SB 711 that will assist more senior citizens and people
with disabilities under the Homestead Preservation Act that he originally
passed a few years ago.
Seniors and citizens with disabilities can qualify for the Homestead credit
if their income is below $77,323. This
year’s change means that those who qualify for the Homestead
credit when their property taxes increase more than 5 percent will be
guaranteed to receive a credit. The provision changes the way the homestead
tax credit is calculated. The change compares the increase in an
assessment year to 2006 figures. Seniors will qualify for a credit under the
Homestead Preservation even in a
non-reassessment year. This was the
original intent of the Homestead Preservation Credit. People must apply for the Homestead
Preservation Credit every year, even if they
have applied for it in the past. The deadline to apply this year is Oct.
15. To receive the credit, homeowners
must own, occupy and pay real estate taxes for the property
in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Property jointly owned with unmarried individuals is
eligible if all property owners meet the qualifications and their combined
federal adjusted
gross income does not exceed $77,323.
Property held in a trust also is eligible for the Homestead Preservation
Credit. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- June 15, 2008 Senate
Bill (SB) 711- Meeting with Senator
Gibbons On June 6, 2008 at Chesterfield City Hall your St Louis County Residents for Property Tax Relief Now committee members received a lengthy briefing on SB 711 from Senator Michael Gibbons, Speaker of the senate and Mr. Brian Schmidt, the Director of the Joint Committee on Tax Policy. Senator Gibbons is the sponsor of SB 711 and Brian is his close advisor. The bill will go a long way to reduce predatory Property tax increases during the property reassessment years, when property values tend increase, by forcing tax rate rollbacks to maintain tax levies to the prior year. Of course individual assessments may rise as a result of an increase in home values. The non-reassessment years could be a problem in those taxing districts where the tax rates are below the tax ceilings. We plan to provide our petitioners with an e-mail list of those St. Louis County taxing jurisdictions that are not at their ceilings. You may want to contact your taxing districts (schools, special school district, fire departments, etc) and tell them to keep the tax rates down and reasonable! The Senate and the House convened on May 16, 2008. Out of over 2000 bills only 43 traveled through the legislature and made it to Governor Blunt’s desk for signature. Senate bill SB 711 made it so it will become law when signed. Our profound thanks to Senator Gibbons for all he has accomplished in getting the bill through the legislature. We also want to thank Brian for the phenomenal job in helping Senator Gibbons putting the bill together and explaining to us a very complex bill (68 pages) in an understandable manner. Brian has been an indispensable help. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 28, 2008 Senate Bill (SB) 711 – Truly Agreed to and finally Passed You can read the entire Truly agreed to and Finally Passed version of SB 711 by clicking on the button above that is linked to the Senate website. Below is the Current bill summary (sort of long to say the least): Current Bill Summary CCS/HCS/SS/SCS/SB 711 - This act modifies laws regarding
property taxation by requiring tax rate rollbacks by all political subdivisions
in reassessment years, changing the way
voter-approved tax increases are applied to assessed values, changing the
time line for the assessment and appeal of property taxes. The imposition of penalties and
interest on the erroneous payments of property taxes is prohibited when there
is clear and convincing evidence that the county made an error in determining
the tax amount
due. Any penalty or interest paid by the taxpayer will be refunded upon the
discovery of the error or omission.
Voter-approved property tax rate increases must to be
applied to a political subdivision's most recent total assessed valuation, as
certified by the city or county on or before the date of the election. Every
political subdivision in a
reassessment year must roll back its prior year's tax rate regardless of
whether the political subdivision was levying the tax at its tax rate
ceiling. A political subdivision may modify its tax rate, not to exceed its
maximum authorized voter-approved levy, through the adoption of an ordinance,
resolution, or policy statement in a non-reassessment year.
All counties and the City of St. Louis must allow public testimony at the
public hearing prior to setting the tax rates. The income exemption for married claimants,
under the property
tax credit program, is increased from two thousand dollars to four thousand
dollars for claimants that own and occupy their homestead for the entire
year. The maximum
award under the property tax credit program is increased from seven hundred
fifty dollars to eleven hundred dollars for homeowners. The maximum upper
limit and minimum base amounts, for the property tax credit for calendar year
2008, are extended to all subsequent calendar years. For homeowners claiming
the property tax credit, the maximum
upper limit is increased to thirty thousand dollars. The act modifies the definition of
"Agricultural and Horticultural Property" for purposes of real
property tax to include real property used for showing of
horses. Charter counties and the
City of St. Louis will set their tax rates by October 1st instead of
September 20th. Assessors for the City of St. Louis and all charter counties
must notify taxpayers by June 15th of real property assessment increases and
the county provide an estimated tax liability for the property beginning
January 1, 2009. Assessors for non-charter counties must notify taxpayers by
June 15th of real property assessment increases and the county has to provide
an estimated tax liability for the property
beginning January 1, 2011. Assessors are required to provide the city or
county clerks with assessment books by March 1st of each year to assist with
determining the
estimated tax liability on properties with increased assessed valuations. The
clerks must make abstracts of the assessment books showing the aggregate
amount of different types
of property and the valuation of each type for each political subdivision
levying taxes on property. Governing bodies of
political subdivisions have to informally project non-binding tax rate levies
from the information provided in the abstracts and provide the projected
levies to the clerk by April 8th of each year. County collectors must
calculate the projected tax liability for each property for which the
assessor intends to provide a notice of increased assessed valuation by
April 30th by utilizing the projected tax levies. A political subdivision's
tax levy will be reduced by twenty percent for the tax year if it
fails to provide projected tax levies by April 8th, unless the failure is a
direct result of a delinquency in providing, or a failure to provide, the
required information by either the clerk or the assessor. The
date that the St. Louis County Board of Equalization convenes is moved back
from the first Monday in June to the second Monday in July. The State Tax
Commission must
develop or enter into contracts for the development of computer software
programs which will produce the notice of projected tax liability. Any
collector that files a request
with the commission before December 31, 2009, will be provided with the
computer software programs. The circuit court clerk must send the county
collector a notice when a
taxpayer timely files an appeal seeking exemption of a final decision of the
local board of equalization. The notice must contain the taxpayer's name, the
case number assigned
by the court, and the parcel or locator number of the property being
appealed. The notice to the collector must state that the taxes in dispute
are to be impounded. The
commission to send the county collector a notice of appeal when a taxpayer
timely files an appeal. The notice must contain the taxpayer's name, the
appeal number assigned
by the commission, the assessed value provided to the local board of
equalization, and the assessed value proposed by the taxpayer if the values
are available to the commission when the appeal is filed. The notice must
also specifically state that the taxes in dispute are to be impounded, and if
the notice is filed in an odd-numbered year, it will
serve as notice to the collector to impound taxes for the following
even-numbered year if no decision has been rendered in the appeal. Taxpayers
are relieved from the requirement of filing a statement of protest if the
taxpayer filed an appeal from a local board of equalization to the commission
or circuit court. The act repeals the
requirement that operators of rental and leasing facilities provide a
description of the personal property located within the rental or leasing facility
to the county assessor where such rental or leasing facility is located for
property tax purposes. The provision authorizing the imposition of a penalty
for an owner of a rental or
leasing facility's failure to provide the property lists is also repealed.
Owners of marinas and other comparable facilities which provide dockage or
storage space for boats,
vessels, floating homes, and floating structures will no longer be required to
provide documentation including the lessee's name, address, county of
residence, and a description
of the personal property located within the marina or comparable facility to
the county assessor where such marina or comparable facility is located for property
tax purposes. The requirement that
certain counties and the City of St. Louis must deduct a percentage of all ad
valorem property tax collections and deposit the amount into the county's
assessment fund is extended from December 31, 2009, to December 31, 2015.
Effective July 1, 2009, the percentage deducted is increased from either
one-eighth of one
percent or one-quarter of one percent to either one-eighth of one percent or
one-half of one percent and the income limits are increased from one hundred
thousand dollars
to one hundred twenty-five thousand dollars in any year for first
classification and charter counties and from fifty thousand dollars to
seventy-five thousand dollars for second,
third, and fourth classification counties. If the commission withholds state
assessment reimbursement funds from a county for three consecutive quarters,
the extra one-eighth
of one percent or one-half of one percent collection revenues in the county
assessment fund will be forfeited and returned by the county to the political
subdivisions within
the county. The act changes which counties of the first classification are
required to withhold one percent of all ad valorem taxes to be deposited into
the county's assessment
fund. For homestead preservation tax credits
filed between Dec 31, 2008, and Dec 31, 2011, the homestead exemption limit
will be based on the increase in tax liability from
the base year to the year prior to the application year. For applications
filed on or after January 1, 2012, the homestead exemption limit will be
based on the increase to tax
liability from two years prior to application to the year immediately prior
to application. The term "base year" means the year prior to the
first year in which the eligible owner's
application was approved, or 2006, whichever is later. Under current law, in
the event the general assembly fails to appropriate sufficient moneys to
fully fund the homestead
preservation tax credit, the exemption limit is increased thereby limiting
the number of otherwise eligible applicants which will receive a credit. This
act would allow for a
pro rata allocation of tax credits among all eligible applicants in years in
which state appropriation is insufficient to fully fund the homestead
preservation tax credit program.
The true value in money for
assessment purposes of any possessory interest in real property on or
adjacent to a certain commercial airport and owned by a political
subdivision will be the true value in money of the possessory interest in the
real property less the total costs paid toward any new construction or
improvements on the
property if included in the possessory interest, unless paid by the political
subdivision, regardless of the year the costs were incurred. Beginning January 1, 2009,
subject to appropriation a taxpayer may receive a property tax credit for
expenses incurred to manufacture, maintain, or improve a freight
line company's qualified rolling stock up to the amount of such taxpayer's
tax liability. The state will, subject to appropriation, annually reimburse a
political subdivision for any loss in revenue resulting from utilization of the tax credit. The act
modifies several provisions of law regarding the notification of appeal of
assessment and the impounding, investing, and refunding of protested tax
payments. School districts
which levy a tax rate below the performance levy due to mandatory roll-backs will
continue to be eligible to receive grants currently provided to small school
districts. Political
subdivisions with voter-approved rate increases subsequent to setting their
most recent tax rate are exempt from the provisions regarding the mandatory rollback
in reassessment years. The requirement that the commission notify each school
district of the equivalent sales ratio for the previous year which was
adopted to determine the equalized
assessed valuation of the property and the equalized operating levy of the
school district for distributions under the previous school foundation
formula is repealed. The
position of taxpayer advocate is created, within the state tax commission, to
represent and protect the interests of taxpayers regarding property taxation. The act requires the
director of the Department of Revenue to collect a maximum fee of one half of
one cent per motor vehicle or driver license record for batch/bulk
customer requests that meet the criteria enumerated in the Drivers Licence
Privacy and Protection Act. This act contains
provisions similar to those contained in SB 718, SB 805, SB 891, SB 976, SB
1285, HB 1321, HB 1343, HB 1349, HB 1474, HB 1694, HB 1695, HB 1723, HB 1836, HB 1958, HB 2058, HB 2079, HB 2165, HB 2393, HB 2439, and HB 2532. JASON
ZAMKUS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May 19, 2008 Senate Bill (SB) 711 Passes and House Joint Resolution (HJR) 43Dies SB 711 passes in the Senate and is on the way to Governor Blunt for signature and then into law. Unfortunately and to our disappointment HJR 43 did not get out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee for a vote on the Senate floor. The full impact of SB 711 on run-away-property-taxes is yet to be known. SB 711 is a very good bill and we feel that many taxing jurisdictions will look for ways around its provisions. Just have to wait and see now. As for HJR 43? It’s a shame that it did not go to the Senate floor for a vote. HJR 43 would close the Missouri Constitution loophole and require taxing jurisdictions to limit tax levy increases from one year to the next to The inflation rate. The explanation for letting HJR 43 die was that it would result in “unintended consequences”. We have yet to obtain an explanation of “unintended consequences”. One can only wonder, unintended consequences for whom – the taxing jurisdictions or the taxpayer. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- May 15, 2008 Status
of House Joint Resolution (HJR) 43 Just received word that HJR 43 is languishing in the Senate and we also
heard it will not be presented to the full Senate for vote. Here is
what we received
from a source: left in the session, it's anyone's guess as to whether Sen. Mike Gibbons will bring it to the floor. Really, Sen. Gibbons has all the control on that one right now so that's who everyone should be lobbying to get it to the floor for a full Senate vote. Then it likely has to have time to go back to the House and likely also go through a conference committee to iron out details. Base on above we sent an e-mail to Senator
Gibbons as follows (slight word changes for you): "Senator Gibbons,
I received word that Representative Portwood's HJR 43 is on the calendar, but may not go to the Senate floor for a full vote. If HJR 43 is not passed it will be a sad disappointment. As you know, even though SB 711 does help out on keeping real property taxes from getting out of hand during the reassessment years it provides no stop gap for the non-reassessment years. HJR 43 is our only hope for putting teeth back into the Hancock Amendment and limiting the taxing jurisdiction's real property tax levies to the Rate of inflation as was intended.
PLEASE ALLOW HJR 43 TO BE BROUGHT TO THE SENATE FLOOR FOR A VOTE. LET THE FULL SENATE DECIDE IF HJR 43 SHOULD PASS.
Respectfully, Harry W. Chambers St. Louis Residents for Property Tax Relief Now" -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May 12, 2008 Support
of SB 711 and HJR 43 and Association with Americans For Prosperity While it appears that SB 711 and HJR 43 will both pass in the legislature we need to make sure with a final push. So, it is essential that you contact your Senator and Representative and urge them to support SB 711 and HJR 43 as soon as possible by telephone or e-mail. Reason is that the end of the Missouri legislative session is THIS FRIDAY, May 16, so the timeframe for calling is early THIS WEEK before the final voting! As of May 10, 2008 here is the status: 1. HJR 43, with a Senate committee substitute was voted out of committee. There were some changes, but this is still a good resolution for the taxpayers. 2. SB 711 has gone to the House and will be worked on. There are changes that will be incorporated and then back to the Senate. Some changes enhance the bill for the taxpayer’s benefit and it is a good bill. Next, as you are aware, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is an organization which shares our goals of tax relief and reform. Like us, one of their goals is cutting taxes and they already have mentioned us on their website. Information on AFP can be obtained on their website www.afpmo.org . Please check out the website – it addresses SB 711 and HJR 43. AFP
is conducting a “Defending the American Dream Summit - the Now organization will be recognized for their grass roots efforts in forcing property tax reform measures on our legislature through you the petitioners! Harry Chambers will attend the You are
invited to attend the others. If you would like to attend you can obtain the necessary information and register through the site: Defending the American Dream Summit - Missouri - Event Registration Powered By Acteva. When you register, you need to complete the section regarding where you heard about the summit. You need to choose “Other” and then put your name in the box below. If you decide to attend please drop us an e-mail and let us know. If enough people decide to go to Branson then AFP will arrange for transportation. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- April 16, 2008 Filing
Property Appraised Value Appeal During Non-Reassessment year Most the information necessary for you to file an individual appeal should you feel one is necessary. Unfortunately, the St. Louis County Government does not provide written information to let the property owners know the conditions under which an appeal should be made. We are providing the following information that includes three links: 1. Although 2008 is a non-reassessment year, property owners can file an appeal to the Board of Equalization. The deadline to file an appeal for 2008 is Monday, June 16, 2008. The economic conditions of January 1, 2007 apply to all appeals filed for 2008. In other words the condition on which an appeal is made must have occurred before 2007. Please note that the last day to file an appeal for 2008 is Monday June 16, 2008. Now just what conditions that occurred prior to January 1, 2007 can apply? Here are a few examples: a. Your house is sold for less than the
appraised value. b. You have obtained an appraisal less
than the county appraised value. c. The condition of your property
changed, such as damage, foundation cracks,
etc. d. There may be other conditions that you are not sure of. |
