~2007 is reassessment year for all real estate property in entire state
SIKESTON -- Total assessed valuations for 2007 in area counties are showing normal growth for the most part.
This year was a reassessment year for all real estate property, according to Ronnie Simmons, New Madrid County assessor.
"Your odd number years are your reassessment years," he explained.
Simmons described the increase in total assessed valuation in New Madrid County as average.
"It's up some," he said. "We just had a pretty typical year here."
In New Madrid County, total assessed valuation for 2007, which includes utility and railroad properties, is $397,245,714. Of that $235,523,780 is real estate and $129,947,141 is personal property.
Scott County's total assessed valuation for the year is $394,420,098 with real estate making up $246,034,740 of that figure and personal property totaling $107,857,450 assessed valuation.
Scott County Clerk Rita Milam said taxpayers need to be aware that the county's total assessed valuation is not the same as dollar amount of property tax collected.
"We take those assessed valuations and multiply it out by the tax rate that is set by the entity and is approved by the state auditor," Milam said. "That's how the total taxes collected by the county are determined."
An individual's property taxes are determined by where they live and what taxing entities collect from that location.
In Scott County, for example, in addition to the county general revenue Johnson grass and state taxes, there are seven school districts, two ambulance districts, five fire protection districts, the health department, the sheltered workshop and three road districts, according to Milam.
"I work with the entities setting the tax rates. We send it into the state auditor and they review them for accuracy and make sure they are following the Hancock Amendment," she said.
Approved in November 1980, the Hancock amendment is a state constitutional amendment intended to prevent the state's budget from growing faster than the Missouri family budget by restricting taxes.
Those with any questions about their tax bill should contact the assessor's office for their county.
"Review your complete tax bill," Milam advised. "Make sure there are no errors in what entities you are paying."
Total assessed valuation in Mississippi County for 2007 is $131,532,931. The total for real estate is $85,716,910 and personal property was valued at $35,449,235.
Junior DeLay, county clerk for Mississippi County, said total assessed valuation increased in the county by about $9 million since 2005.
"It's a little higher than normal because we went through several years when we went through gradual increases," DeLay said. "We are going up -- that's a good thing."
He noted that the increase of $4 million from 2006 to 2007 was significantly more than the $900,000 from 2005 to 2006. DeLay said this is probably due to the index change in the county.
DeLay also noted the state assessed railroad and utility property "has been gradually decreasing for many years. We don't have any railroad anymore."
He explained these properties are assessed by the state using a complicated formula that considers mileage for tracks and utility lines.
Today, AT&T and AmerenUE are about the only remaining railroad or utility properties assessed by the state in Mississippi County.
"Those two together make up 99 percent of our state assessed railroad and utility," DeLay said.
There is also locally-assessed railroad and utility property in the county including property that belongs to a railroad.
"The Union Pacific railroad still owns a strip of ground in the county," DeLay said.