September 27, 2011
General Board Meeting called to order by Chairman Mr. Bettag at 7:03 p.m. Present were Directors Mr. Bettag, Mr. Schloss and Mr. Meyer, Chief Svetanics and Ms. Vincent, District Accountant Joe Schnieders and Representative Cloria Brown. Also present were St. Louis County Assessor Jake Zimmerman, and Captain Dan Bertelsmeier and Pvt. Steve Atherton, Fire Fighters of the District. Citizens of the District present were Ms. Latta, Mr. Esswein, Mr. Coll, Ms. Aurle, Ms. Stratton, Mr. Schoettle, Ms. Armbruster, and Mr. and Ms. Powell.
Pledge of Allegiance led by Chief Svetanics.
Motion made by Mr. Schloss to accept the agenda as presented, 2nd by Mr. Meyer, Roll call vote Mr. Bettag aye, Mr. Schloss aye, Mr. Meyer aye.
Mr. Bettag made a statement regarding the tax rates and asked Treasurer Mr. Schloss to present the facts at this meeting. In short, Mr. Schloss made an overview of how the River City Casino was to pay $1,000,000 in property taxes last year to the District, but protested the amount. The District received $400,000 of that amount. The County released the disputed amount of money to us later in the year, but we cannot spend the $600,000 in case the casino wins the dispute at a hearing and we have to pay back the $600,000.
Now, as for the tax rates for this year, the River City Casino protested this year’s assessment that the St. Louis County Assessor’s Office deemed a true and fair amount. The dispute went to St. Louis County’s appointed Board of Equalization and they voted to lower the amount. Since this amount was such a drastic drop in revenue, the District had no choice but to raise the taxes to $1.39 per $100 of assessed valuations just to keep the District running. The Board of Directors made a formal complaint and asked for a hearing with the B.O.E. The B.O.E. agreed and had a hearing earlier today in Clayton. Present on our behalf were the Board of Directors, Mr. Bettag, Mr. Schloss and Mr. Meyer, Chief Svetanics, District Attorney Matt Hoffman and District Accountant, Joe Schnieders. The B.O.E. listened to the arguments, deliberated for four minutes and revised the valuation in favor of the Fire District and the Hancock School District.
Mr. Bettag stated that since the County meeting ran so late we were unable to get a final figure for the tax rates but that it should be comparable to last year’s rate. Mr. Bettag stated that after we receive the final valuation numbers from the St. Louis County Collector of Revenue we then have to send them to the Missouri State Auditor’s Office for review. We will hold another
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tax rate meeting on Thursday, September 29, 2011 and that the rates should be finalized by then as we have to have them filed with the County by the 30th.
Mr. Schloss introduced Mr. Zimmerman, the County Assessor, who spoke to the audience and commended the Board of Directors for their presentation at the County meeting and especially Mr. Bettag’s from the heart plea that basically the citizens of the District should not have to pay more in taxes when we have so many low income families and the fact that there is a new casino here in our district with a publicized fact that they are taking in so much money.
Questions from the audience:
Q. Do we have to worry about this every year?
A. Yes, we have to keep fighting.
Q. Can anything happen between now and Friday?
A. Mr. Z: I am confident they won’t revise it this year.
Q. What is this disputed property tax?
A. What it actually cost, what the casino is based on; what the property would sell for if you were going to sell.
Q. What about the value of land where they propose to build a hotel?
A. Mr. Z: It went from $284,000,000 to $270,000,000. We’ll continue to fight. I will fight each year. We have certified appraisers to get the numbers right.
Q. The last time I talked to the County Executive, he wouldn’t answer questions about taxes.
A. Mr. Z: He made the right decision today.
Mr. Bettag stated that the casino is good for the community.
Q. Taxpayers will not forget.
A. Mr. Bettag: I know you came to one meeting. No one comes to the meetings.
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Mr. Schnieders: In a few minutes, the B.O.E. made a decision.
Mr. Zimmerman: It took exactly four minutes. Let’s be grateful this happened today.
Mr. Zimmerman left the meeting at 7:24 p.m.
Mr. Bettag reported that we have no new figures from the County as of yet.
Mr. Schloss stated that we have to wait until we get the final figures. We can’t guesstimate. We need a motion to wait to do the tax rate until we get the numbers from the County which is fair and accurate, not based on word of mouth. The meeting is set at 4:00 p.m. Thursday. Last year’s rate was $1.16 per $100 of assessed valuation and we hope to make it about the same, one cent more or less.
Citizen: I want to commend the Board for getting together with Hancock School. People of
Lemay needs standards.
Motion by Mr. Schloss to table the resolution to Thursday, September 29, 2011, at 4:00 p.m., 2nd by Mr. Meyer. Roll call vote Mr. Bettag aye, Mr. Schloss aye, Mr. Meyer aye.
Mr. Bettag stated that we would set the rate then and sign the resolution.
Citizen: We should applaud.
Citizen: Charlie Dooley made the decision not to give the safety tax money to the Fire District.
The Chair recognizes Representative Cloria Brown. Ms. Brown reported that the law says the safety money collected should go to public safety. I tried to change the law, that we should have a committee to decide who gets the safety money. What is public safety? The County decides who to give the $6,000,000 to.
Motion made by Mr. Schloss to adjourn Tax Rate Hearing at 7:36 p.m., 2nd by Mr. Meyer. Roll call vote Mr. Bettag aye, Mr. Schloss aye, Mr. Meyer aye.
Respectfully submitted,
David Meyer, Secretary
DKM/pgv