Scott City district joins appeal with tax commission

Scott City School Board members Wednesday voted to join an appeal process with the State Tax Appeal Commission over Ameren Missouri's 2013 taxes.

According to a news release from Scott County prosecuting attorney Paul Boyd, Ameren is refusing to pay taxes for the 2013 tax year. Scott County and 15 other counties assessed the company's taxes based on the standard taxing calculations of original cost, less depreciation of the property, multiplied by the percentage of taxes by statute, the release said.

Total tax revenue owed by Ameren under the standard method for all 16 counties is about $75,959,104, the release said. But according to Ameren's non-standard tax assessment method, the company would only owe $36,635,666, the release said.

Ameren officials have declined to disclose their formula and/or the property values they used to come up with their non-standard tax assessment, the release said.

The release said Scott County values Ameren's share at $1,333,810 of property value under the standard method of tax assessment while Ameren currently values the property at $555,611, which mostly affects four school districts in the county -- Scott City, Oran, Kelso and Scott County Central.

Scott County shows Ameren owes more than $66,317 in taxes, while Ameren claims to owe about $27,000 to Scott County, the release said.

If Ameren did not pay its taxes, superintendent Diann Ulmer said, her district could lose $21,000 to $22,000 a year. The district's budget for 2013-2014 is for a little more than $3 million.

Total estimated legal fees for Scott County would cost about $6,000 per year for three years, or about $18,000, Ulmer said. If the cost was prorated among all the taxing entities, it would cost the district between 70 and 75 percent of that amount.

The district collects between 70 and 75 percent of the taxes Ameren pays to Scott County, because the district has the "major portion" of the firm's property within its boundaries, Ulmer said.

Noting that Boone County recently won the same type of appeal with Ameren before the State Tax Commission, the release said, "It is understood that in the Boone County case, Ameren refused to comply with disclosures as to how they came up with their property assessment of the tax liability. Thus, they lost their appeal."

Ulmer said the thought is that if all 16 counties go in together, Ameren could be prompted to pay its taxes to all of them. The deadline to make a decision on joining the appeal is May 1.

Currently, the 16 counties involved with Ameren, three others involved in a similar case with Missouri Natural Gas, and Camden County, which is involved with Summit Natural Gas, are working together to right the appeals with the State Tax Commission.

The 16 counties involved with the Ameren appeal are Bollinger, Butler, Callaway, Cape Girardeau, Cole, Cooper, Howard, Lincoln, Moniteau, Montgomery, Pike, Ralls, Randolph, Scott, Stoddard and Warren.

The counties involved with Missouri Natural Gas appeal are Ste. Genevieve, St. Francois and Franklin.

In other business, the board:

* Reorganized after the April 8 election. Beth Cox was elected president in a 4-3 vote, replacing Scott Amick, who was unanimously elected vice president.

Newly elected member Heraleen Bowers was chosen as secretary and Gary Miller, treasurer.

* Learned Ulmer will have a preconstruction meeting today with Zoellner Construction Co. for a performing arts theater/Federal Emergency Management Agency safe room. Estimated completion date for the safe room is April 1 and the approximate date for work to be finished to make the inside of the safe room a performing arts center is June 21, 2015, according to information from the district.

The project had been put on hold because of cost and to see if more funding could be obtained for FEMA-reimbursable items, such as walls, floors, generators, the foundation and some electrical work and plumbing.

At a special meeting April 7, the board voted to accept a $2,059,000 bid from Zoellner.

The FEMA safe room grant is 75 percent FEMA funded with a 25-percent district match.

Since the grant was submitted in fall 2010, the district has been saving money for the project.

The safe room, which will enclose 8,987 square feet, is designed to withstand an EF-5 tornado with winds of up to 250 mph.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

388-3639

Pertinent address:

3000 Main St., Scott City, Mo.