ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. – A St. Charles County homeowner said their home had an unfair assessment. Erik Shimandle from St. Peters said his home was assessed 12 percent higher than a year ago.
“That’s important because the value of the home is directly tied to taxing districts like schools and fire districts. It can cause your taxes to go up,” Shimandle said. “Because what they are doing is taking homes that have been fully renovated or even partially renovated but good enough to sell. Those are the only ones that have really sold in the last couple of years. They then apply the price per square foot to everybody’s home in the area. Most people’s homes in the area haven’t been renovated to the extent that the ones that have been sold have.”
Shimandle said he called the St. Charles County Assessor’s Office but didn’t get the answer he had hoped for.
“They told us that pretty much, it is just the way it is. I got in-depth in the interview, I asked them all kinds of questions,” he said. “But every time, they just tried to reinforce that they fully intend to go forward with this adjustment.”
St. Charles County Assessor Scott Shipman said he’s doing everything by the book.
“By statute, we’re supposed to be at market value, our values are tested by the state tax commission to see if we’re close and accurate,” he said.
Shipman said a lot of people challenged the assessors’ estimate of the value of their homes.
“We’ve had about 3,000 here. We’ve got about 168,000 parcels that’s less than 2 percent,” he said. “Nobody wants taxes increase; absolutely, I don’t like it.”
Shimandle said it just unfair.
“My feeling is that we’re really having taxation without representation,” Shimandle said. “I feel like we’re being overtaxed.”