Joplin City Council schedules public hearing to set property tax rate

(From the City of Joplin)

The Joplin City Council will hold a special meeting on Monday, August 24, for the purpose of holding a public hearing for the property tax rate. This meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and be held in the Council Chambers on 5th floor of City Hall, 602 South Main. The public is welcome to attend. The property tax rate must be set by ordinance by September 1st of each year.

Under New Business on the agenda, the City Council will discuss the City’s contract with Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce. To view the full agenda, click on the link at the end of this article.

The public hearing will discuss the proposed fiscal year 2015-2016 property tax levy for the City of Joplin and for the affirmation of the tax levy of the Joplin Public Library District. The maximum authorized property tax levy is 54.0 cents and the CPI is .80% based on calculations by the State Auditor’s office. The property tax of the City of Joplin represents a very small portion of the overall property tax liability for the citizens of Joplin. Property tax provides approximately .80% of the general government revenue and is used to fund a portion of Health, Parks, and Solid Waste activities.

Staff is recommending the acceptance of the amount calculated utilizing the State Auditor’s worksheet, which represents an increase in the City property tax rate from $.1728 to $.1734. The library rate will remain the same at $.2545 as set forth by Missouri Statute. The total rate will be $.4279 per $100 of assessed valuation, which is up from $.4273 for last year. Property tax is expected to generate $970,483 for the City and $1,253,029 for the library. The property tax for a home with an assessed valuation of $100,000 will be $81.30 for both the city and the library portion of the property tax. This represents an increase of $.11 on a home with an assessed valuation of $100,000.

The Council meeting will be televised through KGCS-TV, a service of the Department of Communication at Missouri Southern State University. KGCS programming airs over the air on digital channel 22 and on regional cable systems including Cable One, Mediacom and Suddenlink.

For more information, contact Lynn Onstot, Public Information Officer at 417-624-0820, ext. 204.