Quote:
Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
It is interesting that the article says "The tax increase would raise property tax on a $450,000 house $51.30 a year." What is interesting about that is that such a house is well over the average valuation for houses in Saint Louis County.
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I think that the author is actually speaking of property taxes relative to the city of Chesterfield and not St. Louis County when you read the sentences that follow. Chesterfield is one of the more affluent suburbs of St. Louis, and it's very likely that the median detached home price is ~$450K. St. Louis County is made up of several suburban cities surrounding St. Louis City. Chesterfield is one of these suburbs. Here is a link to the same article at the Chesterfield Patch website, which perhaps provides better context.
vhttp://chesterfield.patch.com/artic...s-it-torn-down
The St. Louis County Library is the busiest library system in the state of Missouri. It is different and separate from the St. Louis Public Library which serves the residents of St. Louis City (the downtown, urban area of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area). The population of the County (in simple terms the suburbs) is approximately 3X that of the City.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew H.
Yeah, it also doesn't make any sense mathematically. A 6c/$100 valuation would nominally lead to an increase of $270 on a $450k house. Of course there are typically property tax exemptions for homeowners that somewhat reduce the taxable value of the house - I think where I live there's a $45,000 exemption. But these numbers suggest that the assessed value would be something like 20% of the actual value. Which seems way off.
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The FAQ about the tax increase can be found here. The library's website says "The 6 cent increase would cost $17.10 per year on a $150,000 home." The author of the linked article has multiplied that $17.10 by 3 to equate to a $450,000 home. For some perspective, the FAQ explains that the library hasn't asked for a voter-approved tax increase since 1983. There is also a table that shows taxes compared to other regional library systems and with the proposed increase it would place the St Louis County Library in the middle.
http://www.slcl.org/libraries-matter/faq