Saint Louis Public Schools holds hearing on 2025 tax levy; district projects slightly lower rate

Emily Halpert, vice president of the Board of Education, called a public hearing at the Saint Louis Public Schools Central Office to present the district’s proposed 2025 tax levy and explain how the levy would fund general operations and debt service.

Miss Gingedobel, who facilitated the hearing for the district, told attendees that the levy “provides the funding and helps pay for general operations, things like teacher salaries, transportation, utilities, and other classroom resources.” She said the levy is also used for the district’s debt service fund, which repays outstanding bonds used for building renovations and upgrades.

The presentation laid out key figures the district used to calculate the levy. Miss Gingedobel said assessed values supplied by the city showed an overall increase of about $408,000,000 across real estate and personal property, roughly an 8% change year over year. She said real estate values increased by about $354,000,000 (nearly 9%), while personal property declined by about $8,900,000 (about 1%). The district said that, from reassessment alone, assessed value rose about 2%.

Miss Gingedobel explained the process and timing the district followed: the Board of Equalization completes appeals and adjustments at the city level (the last meeting she referenced is the fourth Saturday in August), the district receives final assessed valuation (she said the district received theirs on Sept. 2), and staff use a state auditor form to calculate the rate the district needs to fund schools. She said the law requires the district to set rates and submit them to the city and the state auditor by Oct. 1.

Noting legal limits on how much revenue the district may recognize from reassessments, Miss Gingedobel cited the Hancock Amendment as the constraint that limits growth capture in reassessment years. She said that constraint means the district will not be able to capture the full 8% assessed-value increase as additional revenue.

On the proposed rate and homeowner impact, the district projected a small reduction in the district’s tax rate. Miss Gingedobel said the proposed rate would be nearly 9 cents lower than last year and presented a sample rate figure used in budget comparisons of 4.9085 per $100 of assessed valuation (the district’s budget assumes a 95% collection rate). Using the district’s examples, she said a homeowner whose market value did not change from last year would see the district portion of their tax bill drop by about $17 on a $100,000 home. When asked to confirm that example during the hearing, an attendee (identified in the record as a commenter) said, “So if the property value itself did not change this year from last year, they would pay for a $100,000 home, $17 less to the district.”

Miss Gingedobel described the district’s public-notice steps for the hearing: the district posted the notice at three public locations and on its website and said the posting date was Sept. 10. She also said the notice was made available in a newspaper of general circulation and that local media (she mentioned Spectrum) picked up the notice.

No formal levy vote occurred at the hearing. Miss Gingedobel said the board would set the levy at a subsequent meeting (she referred to that action as occurring “tomorrow”), after which the district will send the approved rate to the City of St. Louis tax assessor, who will forward it to the state auditor for certification.

Next steps: the board is scheduled to set the tax levy at a later meeting; after approval, the district will submit the rate to the City of St. Louis tax assessor and then the Missouri State Auditor for certification.