BENTON -- Scott County and 15 other counties in Missouri are currently in an appeal process with the State Tax Commission over Ameren-Union Electric Company's refusal to pay taxes for the 2013 tax year.
The counties assessed Ameren-Union Electric Company (Ameren) taxes based on the standard taxing calculations of original cost less depreciation of the property multiplied by the percentage of taxes by statute, according to a news release from the office of Scott County Prosecuting Attorney Paul Boyd. The total tax revenue owed by Ameren under the standard method for all the 16 counties is approximately $75,959,104.
Ameren claims under a non-standard tax assessment method its property for the 16 counties should be valued at $36,635.666. To date the company has refused to disclose their formula and/or property values they used to come up with their non-standard tax assessment.
Scott County values Ameren's share at $1,333.810 of property value under the standard method of tax assessment while the company currently values its Scott County property at $555,611. The difference of $778,199 in property value impact the school districts of Scott City, Oran, Kelso and Scott County Central, Boyd said.
Scott County shows Ameren owes $66,317 in tax revenue. Ameren claims to owe only about $27,000 to Scott County.
Scott County Assessor Teresa Houchins pointed out the cost of the litigation or a tax appeal has to come from the affected school districts or the county government just to enforce the tax assessment.
For more on the story see Wednesday's Standard Democrat.