Cole County staff present tax-levy calculations; public hearings set for next week

County staff briefed the commission on updated assessed values from the county clerk's office and on state formulas used to compute property-tax ceilings and rollback calculations that determine final levy rates.

Staff said the assessor's new totals arrived late the previous evening and that the county used the state auditor's calculation method to compute levy ceilings. Staff reported the public-works (Road and Bridge) tax ceiling is 0.2747 for the current cycle, down from 0.2782 last year. The general-revenue ceiling moved down from 0.346 to 0.3418; after applying the rollback tied to sales-tax receipts, staff proposed a general-revenue levy of 0.0701 for the public hearing next week. Staff said those calculations reflect state-supplied limits, cost-of-living-index adjustments, and the rollback formula.

Public hearing scheduled: staff said the county had advertised the public hearing twice (the hearing was advertised for the meeting but deferred) and that the commission will open, hear public comment, close and vote on the levies next Tuesday. Staff invited commissioners to submit questions before the hearing.

Why it matters: the levy-setting process affects property-tax rates for county services and other local taxing jurisdictions. Staff emphasized that the state tax commission and auditor supply key numbers (the CPI percentage and other inputs) that determine ceilings and rollback calculations.

At the meeting several commissioners discussed how the rollback protects other political subdivisions from excessive increases and noted that about 20 local levies across the county rely on the new values for their calculation.