Wentzville R‑IV proposes lower tax rate as assessed value rises; board hears plan to prepay $17.6 million in bonds

Wentzville R‑IV School District staff presented a proposed total property tax levy of 4.536 for the 2025 fiscal year at a public tax rate hearing on Aug. 1, 2025, and explained how a reassessment-driven jump in assessed valuation will be limited by the Hancock Amendment’s CPI cap. Staff also described a plan to defease about $17.6 million in outstanding bonds, which it estimated would eliminate approximately $8.71 million in future interest payments.

The proposed total levy of 4.536 is composed of an operating levy (split among funds 1, 2 and 4) proposed at 3.32073, two temporary voter-approved levies — Prop 3 at 0.2132 (sunset 2031) and Prop E at 0.1851 (sunset 2035) — and a debt service levy of 0.9304. Dr. Tim Eller, a district staff member, told the board the district’s assessed valuation rose about 8.77% to roughly $3.7 billion and that new construction added just under $84 million in assessed value.

Why it matters: the district’s reassessment increase (6.54% for real property) would, absent limits, produce larger tax collections. Under the Hancock Amendment and the district’s use of the state auditor’s tax-rate form, however, the district may capture only a CPI-linked revenue increase (2.9% for last year) out of that reassessment; new construction provides an additional roughly 2.5% revenue increase because that value was not on the tax rolls the prior year. That combination left the district proposing a lower rate overall: "We're limited by the Hancock Amendment to that 2.9% growth," Dr. Eller said.

On debt, Dr. Eller said the district is working with Stifel to prepay roughly $17.6 million of bonds originally scheduled to mature in 2037 and 2038. He said that defeasance would eliminate about $8.71 million in future interest payments and allow the district to maintain the current debt service levy at 0.9304. Staff emphasized that amounts in the debt service fund are restricted to principal and interest obligations and cannot legally be used to fund building repairs or other operating costs.

Board members asked technical and policy questions about the revenue impact of reassessment and new construction, the mechanics of defeasance, past prepayments, and whether the district could repurpose debt service funds for repairs. Dr. Eller and staff said the debt-service funds are restricted and that, while the board could pursue a voter-approved operating levy and simultaneously reduce the debt-service levy, any such reallocation would require voter approval and carry trade-offs if the district must finance new construction in the future.

Procedural note: no members of the public had signed up to speak during the public comment portion of the hearing. A motion to adjourn the tax rate hearing and reconvene the board in open session at 6:30 p.m. passed on roll call (see actions). The proposed levy and related documentation remain on the board’s regular meeting agenda for formal action.

Questions and constraints noted during the hearing included that reassessment increases real-property assessed value every other (odd) year, that personal property is reassessed annually, and that the district’s operating levy is at its authorized maximum and cannot be increased without voter approval. Staff also noted the district has engaged in prepayments in recent years (the prior year prepayment was described as roughly $13–$15 million, per staff comments) and that continued prepayments are one option among several for managing the district’s capital and debt profile.

The board will consider formal levy adoption as part of its regular meeting agenda; no final levy adoption vote is recorded in the tax-rate hearing transcript excerpt.