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Taxes

Rates and Information

The City levies a 6% gross receipts tax on companies that supply electricity and power, gas, telephone, or cable within the City.

Utility taxes are collected through monthly customer billing and are usually remitted to the City the following month.

If the utility reaches and accumulated total of $30,000.00 for the calendar year, the tax rate is reduced to 5.822% for electricity and 1% for all other utility companies.

LIBRARY TAX:
While all property owners in the City of Washington are charged a Library Tax, not all of the tax collected goes toward the support of the Washington Library.  At a point in the past, a line was drawn (basically around the then existing City Limits) and all property owners outside of that line had their tax go to the Scenic Regional Library District.  As the City grows, more and more of its citizens will be contributing to the Scenic Regional. ALL CITIZENS of the City of Washington receive FREE City of Washington Library privileges regardless of to which Library District they contribute.

PERSONAL PROPERTY:
The valuation of personal property is provided by the Franklin County Assessor’s office.

REAL ESTATE PROPERTY TAX:
The link at the bottom shows the tax rate per $100 of assessed valuation for the City of Washington. The City uses a State supplied formula that takes into account the annual Cost of Living, increase new construction and several other factors. As a result, the rate per $100 of assessed valuation tends to trend downward even though individual taxes paid trend upward. The upward trend is a combination of the Cost of Living, reappraisal of real estate and new construction.  The assessed valuation is reached by applying a percentage against the appraised value of the property.

Property has an assessed value to estimated actual value as follows:
•Agricultural Real Estate 12%
•Residential Real Estate 19%
•Commercial Real Estate 32%
•Personal Property 33 1/3%

The rating (or percentage) used is based on the USAGE of the property, not how the property is zoned. Both the USAGE and the APPRAISED value determined by the Franklin County Assessor’s office.  A link at the bottom shows the total assessed valuation of taxable property for the City of Washington over the last years as well as the current year’s valuation.

TAX BILL AND PAYMENT:
At this time, the property tax charges for the City of Washington appears on the Franklin County Tax bill along with other taxing districts being collected by Franklin County. The County issues the tax bill and collects the payments. Tax bills are due by December 31 of each year or else penalties are incurred. The County charges a fee for the billing and collection of the City’s taxes.  A separate personal property tax bill is issued by the County which includes the City of Washington taxes. Payment procedures are the same for the personal property tax bill as for the real property tax bill.

Assessed Value

CITY OF WASHINGTON, MISSOURI
LAST TEN FISCAL YEARS

Property Tax Rates – Effective And All Overlapping Governments

Source:  Franklin County Collector and Assessor’s Offices (rates stated per $100 assessed valuation)

General Sales Tax
The City of Washington has three (3) sales tax rates. There is a one-cent rate which is collected for use in the General Fund. The one-cent has been in effect since 1970.

Sales Tax for Capital Improvements
There is a one-half cent sales tax that is collected for use for Capital Improvement. The citizens originally authorized this tax in 1989 for five (5) years. It was re-authorized for a second period of eight (8) years starting in 1994, a third period of eight (8) years starting in 2002, a fourth period starting in 2010 and a fifth period starting in 2018.

Sales Tax for Transportation
A one-half cent sales tax was passed by voters in April 2005, effective October 1, 2005 with expiration date of June 30, 2030, for transportation purposes.  This includes, but not limited to, payment of local share of the cost of expanding Hwy 100 from Interstate 44 to High Street from two (2) lanes to four (4) lanes.

In addition to the three (3) sales tax rates equaling 2% by the City of Washington, county and state taxes bring the total sales tax to 8.85%; Washington Phoenix Center II sales tax is 9.6%.

Capital Improvement Sales Tax Projects

 

The City levies a 5% tourism tax for all sleeping rooms paid by the transient guests of hotels or motels situated in the City of Washington, Missouri.

Each person engaged in the business of operating a hotel or motel in the City collects and remits the tax to the City Collector on or before the thirtieth (30th) day of the month following the end of the calendar quarter.