| Homeowner tax rate rolled back for 2019-2020 school year |
| Wednesday, September 25, 2019 |
The Pattonville Board of Education on Sept. 24 approved tax rates for the 2019-2020 school year which reduce the rate for residential properties more than 40 cents per $100 of assessed valuation from the previous year.
The new residential rate will continue to be lower than the rates for agricultural, commercial and personal property, as promised to voters when they approved passage of the Proposition P tax rate increase in 2013. The district promised to limit the residential tax rate increase to 35 cents for as many years as possible, a commitment it has kept for six years.
This year, the overall residential rate will be reduced by nearly $1 over what the district could have levied per state law. The reductions are the result of an increase in property values, combined with other voluntary rollbacks the district has chosen to take to lessen the tax burden on homeowners.
Approximately 86% of Pattonville's revenue comes from local sources, which include taxes paid on property in the district. These taxes are based on the assessed value of the property, as determined by the St. Louis County assessor's office. The value of existing property in Pattonville grew by 8.1%, however the district's revenue growth is limited by law to the change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which grew 1.9% this year. Pattonville reduced its residential tax rate to keep revenue growth from its existing properties in line with the change in the CPI.
Two voluntary rollbacks are also included in the newly approved tax rate for homeowners (see chart below for more details).
Following the passage of Proposition P in 2013, Pattonville has been able to approve balanced budgets for the last six years. Proposition P prevented the need to cut $10 million in spending after the district already cut $8 million in expenditures between 2007 and 2013. Proposition P was an overall tax rate increase of $0.9972 designed to maintain and protect Pattonville's current instructional programs and staffing levels, but the residential increase has been limited to 35 cents, a rollback the district promised to keep for as many years as possible.
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