Parkway School Taxes Going Up This Year, After Board Vote Wednesday

The Parkway Board of Education voted to increase the 2011 district's residential tax rate by 11 cents on Wednesday night.

The vote came after a presentation by Parkway School District Chief Financial Officer Mark Stockwell. That presentation can be read in the PDF portion of this article below the photo.

Stockwell said the district sets its tax rate each year and is calculated in proportion to the St. Louis County property values within the Parkway district for that year.

In Missouri, property is reassessed every other year and 2011 was an assessment year.

Parkway Director of Communications Paul Tandy tells Patch that the district typically increases or decreases its annual tax rates to counteract an increase or decrease in county property values for that year.

"The intent is to provide a stable funding source for taxing jurisdictions regardless of occasional increases or decreases in overall property values," District Spokesperson Cathy Kelly stated in a news release.

"This year the values went down so the tax rate is going up," Stockwell tells Patch.

The new 2011 Parkway tax rates are as follows:

Residential Property:           $3.34
Agricultural Property:          $5.12
Commercial Property:          $4.05
Personal Property:               $3.74

Wednesday's vote affects the 2011 calendar year, or the 2011 - 2012 fiscal year.

"The property values went down similarly to what the rates are going up, so it's basically a wash," Stockwell tells Patch. "The intent is to generate the same amount of money (for the district) as they did overall last year."