Callaway County entities levying property taxes probably will have to set their tax rates again because county vehicle assessments were not completed by the deadline for setting tax rates for this year.
Callaway County Assessor Dan Roe said Monday Callaway County entities levying property taxes would include countywide tax assessments set by the Callaway County Commission along with all other county school districts, cities and other political subdivisions.
The Callaway County Commission Friday set the county general revenue tax rate at $0.3135, compared to $0.3131 last year, a four hundreds of one percent increase. The county road and bridge tax rate was set at $0.2469, compared to $0.2466 last year, a three hundreds of one percent increase.
Callaway County Eastern District Commissioner Gabe Craighead said the small increase in property tax assessments will result in a gain of only $2,800 to the county.
The State Auditor's office provides a maximum tax rate to counties and political subdivisions and another suggestion in order to raise close to the same amount of money as the previous year.
Craighead said after the county assessor provides all updated assessments on vehicles the county may need to reduce its tax rate slightly rather than raise it slightly. Or the tax rate could remain about the same.
Roe said the reason for the delay in providing updated vehicle assessments came mainly because of a change in the way vehicle market values are obtained by county assessors throughout the state.
In making property tax assessments, Missouri law requires local governments to use the market value of vehicles as reported in October of the previous year by the National Auto Dealers Association (NADA).