According to a summary from Missouri legislature's Web site, Rep. Gary Fuhr's legislation-House Bill 506-would "require school districts that levy different rates on subclasses of real property, due to a ballot measure approved by voters prior to January 1, 2011, to revise their tax rates if the amount of revenue derived differs from the amount that would result from using a blended rate on all real property. "
The bill passed on Thursday 137-0 in the House and 32-0 in the Missouri Senate. It now goes to Gov. Jay Nixon.
In an interview, Fuhr said that in 2007, St. Louis County passed an ordinance requiring assessments for each of the four different sections of property tax. He added one unintended consequence of that was the state auditor's office wasn't able to issue a single rate because of the way statutory language was structured.
So this was just to go clean up the language so the auditor's office can include a single rate that took the four different rates for the different types of real estate property and blend it together so it would be easier for the taxpayers to (understand), "said Fuhr, R-St. Louis County.
The effect of the bill, said Rep. Marsha Haefner, R-Oakville, is that the Mehlville School District could see slightly increased revenues without having to hold an election.