Dooley Wants Cut in Tax Rate

St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley asked the county council to cut the county’s property tax for debt service by 3.5 cents for each $100 of assessed valuation as an economic stimulus. He also wants the council to drop plans to put a $120 million bond issue on the April 7 ballot.

The tax rate reduction would save owners of $200,000 houses $13.30 a year on their real property taxes. The owners would not see the savings until November when the county mails them their tax bills. The rate cut would reduce the county’s collections for debt service by about $8.8 million.

“The mounting number of job loses in recent weeks and its impact on our community demands that we take action on keeping St. Louis Countians in their homes with some money in their pockets,” Dooley said in statement.

The county executive challenged other jurisdictions in St. Louis County to cut their property tax rates. Together all jurisdictions could make a difference, he said.

Dooley conceded that the savings in the county’s rate reduction would not be available until November, but said word of it might encourage people to spend now.

Just think of what all you can buy for $13.30.

Property Tax Rollback

A resident comments on the state of proper taxes . . .


I just read today's Post-Dispatch article about property taxes:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/4BD0D2C9A6F937EF86257548001C41E3?OpenDocument#tp_newCommentAnchor

It is time to get angry about this situation. I have already written to Charlie Dooley and my county councilwoman about this issue but I fear they will stick their heads in the sand and hope it blows over. We cannot allow bureaucrats to drive people into financial ruin because they want to take advantage of rising home prices but ignore them when they fall. Assessments in 2007 averaged a 23% increase! Surely at a minimum they can roll those increases back to pre-2007 levels when we're in the kind of economic crisis that we're in right now. What else can we do to insist that the county government pay attention to its consitituents and not just plot to suck every last dime of revenue they can?

I am so angry about the arrogant bureaucracy in Clayton that seems to stick its head in the sand when people are suffering every day financially. The assessor refused to be interviewed for the article apparently he doesn't have to be accountable to the people he supposedly serves. I have already written to my councilwoman and Charlie Dooley but what else can we do to demand that Clayton realistically assess home values when they do their property tax assessments this year? I am not content to simply "wait and hope" that the county will do the right thing. They proved in 2007 that they were perfectly happy to stick it to everyone when the market went up, well now they need to ride the wave down like everyone else. I hope people are as angry about this as I am.


By Tim in St. Louis - Jan 25th, 2009