The ballot language

The actual wording of the question regarding the Carthage Public Library District that voters will see on the ballot on Aug. 5 is:

"Shall there be a property tax increase of $0.06 over the present $0.26 voted tax for the operation of the Carthage Public Library."

YES
NO

The difference between voter-approved property tax levy and the Hancock-adjusted property tax levy means six cents will equal 14 and a half cents if voters approve the property tax proposal for the Carthage Public Library.

The voter-approved levy for the Carthage Public Library is 26 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, as stated in the language that will appear on the ballot on Aug. 5, however, the actual property tax levy Carthage residents paid for the library in 2007 was 17.42 cents. In 2006 that levy was 17.85 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, according to information from the city of Carthage.

The levy is rolled back every year when new property tax assessments are figured as required in the Hancock Amendment to the Missouri Constitution.

Jim Seitz, president of the library board, said the board worded the proposal the way they did to make it easier for voters to understand and because 26 cents was the last levy approved by voters.

"Valuations are rolled back every year and, theoretically, the way the rollback work, we're paying the same amount of dollars in taxes as we did when the 26-cent levy was approved," Seitz said. "This was also what Webb City had done when it put a levy on the ballot, so we did what they did."

The Hancock Amendment, named for former Missouri Congressman Mel Hancock, R-Springfield, who pushed the amendment in 1980, requires that property tax levies be adjusted down as the assessed value of property rises so the actual taxes paid by the property owner do not change as values change.

The annual roll-backs in the 20 years since the last vote on the library property tax levy have dropped the actual levy 17.42 cents per $100 of assessed valuation in 2007, according to Carthage City Clerk Lynn Campbell.

If voters approve the six-cent increase in the voter-approved levy on Aug. 5, the levy will jump to 32 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, meaning voters will actually approve a 14.48-cent increase in the levy from 17.42 cents to 32 cents per $100 in assessed valuation.

The pro-library group Citizens for the Carthage Public Library used 17.42 cents per $100 of assessed valuation in a flyer they made promoting the tax increase when they said the owner of a $150,000 house will pay $41.55 more in property taxes annually.
The library property tax bill on that $150,000 home would be $91.20 at 32 cents. At 17.42 cents, that property tax bill was $49.65.

If the proposed levy had been in place this year, the total property tax levy for Carthage residents would have been $4.9595 per $100 of assessed valuation. The actual levy this year was $4.8147 per $100 of assessed valuation.

The total property tax bill for that $150,000 home in Carthage if the proposed levy had been in place last year, would have been $1,413.46, compared to the bill as the taxes were last year, which was $1,372.19.

If the measure passes, starting from 32 cents, the levy will be adjusted annually according to the Hancock Amendment.

Seitz also said the memorandum of understanding the library signed with the city when the two agreed to build calls for the library to go back to voters every three years for an operational levy hike, but that will only happen if this measure does not pass.

"It doesn't mean we're going back to voters every three years for a tax increase," Seitz said.