HERMANN — Hermann property owners this year will face a tax rate of just over 38 cents per $100 assessed valuation following recent action by the city’s Board of Aldermen (BOA).

The panel on Aug. 14 adopted a rate of .3828 cents that will produce a projected $176,180 in the city’s Fiscal Year 2023-24, which began July 1. The tax rate will be on property owners’ tax statements received later this year from the Gasconade County Collector’s Office.

Of the total levy approved, .3632 cents will be directed to general municipal government expenses. Another .0094 cents will be allocated to the city’s parks system and .0102 cents is earmarked for the Municipal Band.

According to the legislation approved by the aldermen, Hermann has real estate assessed at $34,284,200, up from last year’s assessed value of $33,880,450. This year’s local railroad and utilities property is assessed at $107,210, compared to last year’s $273,300. State railroad and utilities property has a 2023 assessment of $790,181, compared to last year’s amount of $684,982.

On the personal property side of the ledger, Hermann’s personal property is assessed at $10,563,835, which is down from $12,259,168 listed for 2022. The values of personal property for railroads and utilities are up compared to last year’s figures — $63,126 compared to $60,393 for local railroads and utilities and $215,518 compared to $205,424 for state railroads and utilities.

The city’s total assessed value for property in Hermann this year is $46,024,070, compared to 2022’s total assessed value of $47,363,717. That $1.3-million drop in assessed valuation allows the city to bump its property tax rate to avoid a large loss of revenue.

City Administrator Patricia Heaney used the BOA session to tout Hermann’s lowest property tax rate among all six municipalities in Gasconade County. Even with the slight increase, Hermann’s rate is 2 cents lower than the next closest city’s rate, according to 2022 figures, the latest available. Going into this year, Rosebud’s rate is .4029 per $100 assessed valuation. The other cities’ 2022 rates were Gasconade, $2.4369; Owensville, .8043 cents; Morrison, .5417; Bland, $2.291.

The property tax rate in Hermann is well below the other cities because it, like Owensville, receives the bulk of its funding through a sales tax on retail sales. Hermann also has a tourism tax dedicated to promoting its tourism industry. The city also generates revenue through the sale of gas, water and electricity to residents and businesses.

Also at the Aug. 14 session, Tourism & Economic Development Director Tammy Bruckerhoff reported that her department has been busy lately trying to restore the tour bus traffic that abruptly halted with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Promotional efforts are taking place in several distant communities promoting Hermann as a tour bus destination.

On another economic development front, Bruckerhoff said her office continues to contact grocers about expanding into Hermann to fill the void that will be created with the closing of Hermann’s Save-A-Lot. With the Kutthoff family ending its four-decades run in the grocery business, it’s believed the store will be closing sometime this month, although no firm date has been announced.

“I’ve been contacting grocery chains,” Bruckerhoff told the BOA.

Mayor Bruce Cox used the BOA meeting as an opportunity to thank the Kutthoff family for its longtime support of community organizations.

“It’s just time for them to do what they’re doing,” he said, referring to the decision to retire from the business.

The Save-A-Lot store has been the primary supplier of products for events of such groups as Hermann’s Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, as well as being the main supplier of the Hermann Food Pantry. Village Market has agreed to be the Scouts’ new supplier; but as of the most recent report from the Food Pantry, a new supplier had yet to be found.

The mayor also issued a public caution to local motorists about the increased presence of youths with last Tuesday’s start of a new school year in the Gasconade County R-1 School District. St. George School began classes a few days earlier. “Be alert,” the mayor advised.