Property tax bills are being printed this week at MAR Graphics in Valmeyer and should be in county mailboxes soon.
The Monroe County Treasurer’s Office is set to collect $56.03 million in property taxes this year on 17,987 taxable parcels of land. This is up slightly from $54.3 million billed last year.

Depending on where you live, the taxes paid by Monroe County property owners fund a slew of projects and expenses including supporting local schools and road districts, as well as funding many municipal responsibilities, rural road maintenance, fire departments, cemetery districts and more, along with operations of the county itself.

The county’s portion of this year’s tax bill is up slightly from last year — $7.05 million compared to $6.87 million in 2016 and $6.52 million in 2015. The county’s current tax rate is .79102 percent, which is down from last year’s rate of .88529.

The overall tax rates in Columbia and Maeystown enjoyed slightly lower tax rates compared to last year. Waterloo, Valmeyer and Hecker, conversely, saw slight increases.

“Overall, real estate taxes are up slightly across the county,” Monroe County Treasurer Kevin Koenigstein said. “This increase is in part due to reassessments in Columbia that resulted in higher tax bills, as well as farmland being taxed at a higher rate.”

The first payments are due by Tuesday, Oct. 3, with the second installment due Friday, Nov. 3. Bills can be paid at all local banks, at the treasurer’s office in the courthouse, or by mail.

“We encourage everyone to pay early if they can,” Koenigstein said.

For more information, call the Monroe County Treasurer’s office at 939-8681, ext. 213.

For a complete breakdown of comparative tax rates for each Monroe County municipality for the tax levy year 2016, payable in 2017, see the Aug. 23 issue of the Republic-Times.