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During Tuesday evening’s monthly meeting of the Marceline City Council, it was announced that the Linn County Commission has decided to exercise its legal authority to collect an ad valorem tax on all properties in the county.
Although Section 137.720 RSMo specifically authorizes Missouri county governments to collect one-and-a-half percent of all ad valorem taxes collected by every municipality in Linn County, the Commission just recently became aware of that law.
“This law has been on the books for some time,” says Commissioner Randy Wade. “But we were unaware we were supposed to collect this revenue.”
When asked if some specific expenditure had prompted the Commission to exercise this privilege, Commissioner Wade responded, “No, there wasn’t a particular need, but obviously with our sales tax revenues being down, this will help keep us in the black.”
As the County has never collected this tax, it’s hard to know exactly how much revenue will result, but County Clerk Peggy Ward estimates the total will be around $9,000 for the year 2010.
The City of Marceline estimates that for 2010, it will owe the County $1,500 plus an additional $700 that is directly assessed against Marceline’s Public Library.
This year, the State reduced the amount it reimburses county assessors from $6 a parcel to $4 a parcel, further stressing Linn County’s finances.
“We haven’t asked for a tax increase since 1984, and we are in a situation of declining revenues,” Wade observes. “We’re down about $50,000 from last year’s revenues. We’re not trying to get ahead by doing this; we just need to catch up.”
- See today's LCL for the full story
During Tuesday evening’s monthly meeting of the Marceline City Council, it was announced that the Linn County Commission has decided to exercise its legal authority to collect an ad valorem tax on all properties in the county.
Although Section 137.720 RSMo specifically authorizes Missouri county governments to collect one-and-a-half percent of all ad valorem taxes collected by every municipality in Linn County, the Commission just recently became aware of that law.
“This law has been on the books for some time,” says Commissioner Randy Wade. “But we were unaware we were supposed to collect this revenue.”
When asked if some specific expenditure had prompted the Commission to exercise this privilege, Commissioner Wade responded, “No, there wasn’t a particular need, but obviously with our sales tax revenues being down, this will help keep us in the black.”
As the County has never collected this tax, it’s hard to know exactly how much revenue will result, but County Clerk Peggy Ward estimates the total will be around $9,000 for the year 2010.
The City of Marceline estimates that for 2010, it will owe the County $1,500 plus an additional $700 that is directly assessed against Marceline’s Public Library.
This year, the State reduced the amount it reimburses county assessors from $6 a parcel to $4 a parcel, further stressing Linn County’s finances.
“We haven’t asked for a tax increase since 1984, and we are in a situation of declining revenues,” Wade observes. “We’re down about $50,000 from last year’s revenues. We’re not trying to get ahead by doing this; we just need to catch up.”
- See today's LCL for the full story
