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Republic CFO explains Hancock Amendment limits as proposed property tax rates fall slightly
Summary
At a city workshop, CFO Bob Ford explained how the Hancock Amendment caps growth, calculated the city's adjusted assessed value and proposed 2025 property tax rates, and reported an expected $2.3 million in property tax revenue for fiscal 2026.
Bob Ford, Chief Financial Officer for the City of Republic, reviewed the city's property-tax levy calculation process at a workshop and explained why the city's permitted tax rate per $100 of assessed value can fall even when overall tax revenue grows.
Ford said the Hancock Amendment to the Missouri Constitution limits the permitted growth in property-tax revenue to the smaller of (1) the change in assessed value for the same basket of property year over year, (2) the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or (3) 5 percent. For the year discussed, the state-defined CPI cap is 2.9 percent, which caps revenue growth despite a larger change in assessed value.
The nut graf: because assessed value for the consistent basket of properties rose faster than the cap, the allowable tax rate per $100 of assessed value declines; however, the larger assessed base yields modest additional property-tax revenue for the city.
Ford walked council through the calculation: he reported an adjusted assessed value for the fixed basket of properties of $387,000,000 for the current year versus $351,000,000 for the prior year (a 10.2 percent change). Using last year's tax rate on the prior assessed value and applying the 2.9 percent CPI cap, he derived the city's new general-operating levy of 0.3985 per $100 of assessed value. He reported proposed levies for parks and recreation at 0.1074 per $100 and for streets at 0.0613 per $100.
Applying the new rates to the total assessed value for the city (including new construction), Ford said the calculation yields expected property-tax revenue of roughly $2,300,000 that will cash flow in fiscal 2026; he also noted county processing fees (Greene County 3 percent and Christian County 4 percent) reduce the net to the city.
Ford said this year's analysis shows a lower tax rate per $100 because of Hancock Amendment limits, but the city will still collect more revenue overall due to the larger assessed-value base. Council did not record any formal vote on the levy in the workshop transcript.
Ending: Ford said staff follows the statutory process of excluding new construction when calculating adjusted assessed growth and will bring the formal levy ordinance for council action consistent with state deadlines.
