WP passes tax increase, gas purchase at special meeting

The West Plains City Council approved a gas purchasing agreement and a property tax increase during their special meeting on August 26. 

 

The city’s deadline to pass the property tax levy prompted the special session. That deadline was September 1, hence the special meeting. Bill 4775, now Ordinance 4775, saw the city raise the tax on property, personal, real, and mixed, within the corporate limits of the city to $0.3115 per one-hundred dollars of assessed valuation. The State of Missouri releases the property tax information every year in late July or early August to all cities, according to Anselm. “The city, then has to adopt that property tax by local law and it has to be done by September 1,” said Anselm. “Since we only have one meeting a month, we have to schedule two meetings. In most other cities, they have two council meetings per month.” 

 

To explain the increase, Finance Director Earlene Rich said, “The property tax rate for the City of West Plains and the Library went up by 0.3%. Total property tax revenues are expected to increase $5,300 for the city and $3,300 for the library. Since this is not a reassessment year, most taxpayers will not see any significant increase to their real property assessed valuation. Assessed valuation for the city and library increased 0.59% because of new construction/property added to the tax rolls.

 

Reassessment of properties in Missouri happens every odd numbered year. In even numbered years (including 2024), the changes to the assessed valuation will primarily be the result of new construction/property added to the tax rolls and demolition/disposal of property that was previously on the tax rolls."

 

In other action, the council passed Resolution 2024-23 which allows the utilities director to execute an extension agreement with BlueMark Energy, LLC for the purchase of natural gas for generators. According to City Administrator Sam Anselm, the choice to go with BlueMark is due to the amount of fuel required and the city's location. “We purchased our gas from BlueMark Energy because our generator units require so many gallons of gasoline,” said Anselm. “We can't have a pipeline to the generation units because we're, sort of, the end of the line. So, we have to get it trucked in.”

 

The West Plains City Council will meet next on Monday, September 23, at 5:30 pm.