Developing Story With Strain-Japan R-16 School
Voters in the Strain-Japan R-16 School District approved the district to maintain its current operating tax levy at $3.7451 per $100 assessed valuation according to the 2021 assessment for the purpose of maintaining and staffing school facilities.
Voters approved the measure Tuesday, August 3, by a vote of 125 yes to 56 no and comes on the heels of a lengthy lawsuit that now finds the district owing a a class suit formed by Larry Blankenship that will pay him $770.05 reimbursement for taxes paid to the school district and some $347,134 in legal counsel fees expended by Blankenship.
On March 2, the Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District ruled that the school district owes a partial refund to a class of local taxpayers after overturning a Franklin County Court decision in the case of Blankenship v. Franklin County Collector.
According to documents Franklin County voters in the Strain-Japan R-16 School District approved the districts tax levy to $3.5342 per $100 assessed valuation.
A class action lawsuit alleged that from 2013 to 2018 the district collected taxes that exceeded the approved amount of the levy.
The school district argued that the assessed valuation of property in the district had decreased during those years, so the higher levy had resulted in an essentially flat amount of tax revenue.
A Franklin County Judge had determined in his ruling that the school did not violate the state statue nor the “Hancock Amendment” to the Missouri Constitution, which limits taxation and spending.
The Eastern District Court did not agree with the Franklin County ruling and ruled that the class members could recover at least some of what they overpaid.
Judge Phillip M. Hess, covered several Missouri Supreme Court precedents, that found a district must remain at or below the level approved by voters.
Judge Hess had written in a foot note, “While reasonable minds can disagree on policy arguments presented by the implementation of the Hancock Amendment here, we cannot ignore they will of the people as expressed by the plain language of article X, section 22(a) of the Missouri Constitution.”
The district had argued that it had complied with the state law that allows districts to adjust their levy so as to receive “substantially the same amount of tax revenue as was produced in the previous year,” adjusted for inflation. But the Eastern District found the district still council;dn’t exceed the approved levy.
While the class and Blankenship can only receive a refund for years 2017 and 2018, the four previous years in which collections were higher cannot be challenged.
The Sullivan Independent News looks to seek additional information on what this means for the district regarding the large sum of attorney fees to be repaid.
The announcement on the $770.05 refund and $347,134 in attorneys fees paid by Blankenship now to be refunded by the District was made July 26. by Judge Circuit Judge Daniel G. Pelikan.