Some Voters Yell Foul Ball on Mailing of Tax Bills

According to St. Louis County officials, property tax bills for residential and commercial property owners will go out in the mail on Monday.

Property tax bills for most residents in St. Louis County will increase this year due to many school districts raising their tax rates, as well as the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) restoring a tax that it had not charged for the last two years. The major factor for the increase this year is that 21 of 23 school districts have raised their rates, with the exception of the Ferguson - Florissant and Lindbergh school districts. The largest increases were 21.77 percent in Maplewood, 5.33 percent in Brentwood, and 14.74 in Webster Groves.

According to two St. Louis County employees who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution by their supervisors, the county’s director of revenue, Eugene Leung, ordered that tax bills be held until after election day to shield county executive Charlie Dooley from potential voter anger. County officials deny those allegations and claim that the delay was due to disputes over some rates that the state auditor needed to resolve. However, Leung confirmed last Thursday (November 4) that he had held up publishing the tax bills, but said he had done so because the state auditor needed to certity several rates. But, Susan Montee, the state auditor, said that St. Louis County does not have to wait for her office to certify tax rates. According to Montee, “I couldn’t hold up anything if I wanted to.”

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