by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Sumner County taxpayers will be receiving their 2012 tax statements in the immediate future. What they will find is some tax relief from the previous year thanks to the Kansas Star Casino. But the total property tax bill reduction will be less than 10 percent.

The County Treasurer will be mailing out tax bills on or before Dec. 15. All, or at least half of the tax is due by December 20, and the second half is due by May 10 of the following year.

Wellington property taxpayers will see a rate reduction of 8.75 percent. Other Sumner County cities and townships will see comparable savings (see graphic below).

Assuming a taxpayer’s residential property has the same appraised value as the year before, the owner of a $100,000 home in Wellington, will be billed$1,863 in 2012 compared to $2,042 in 2011. That’s a savings of $179.

There has been confusion over how much tax relief there is going to be for Sumner County taxpayers. Earlier this year, the Sumner County Commissioners were touting that taxpayers would be saving up to 30 percent from the previous year. However, what was lost in the translation, was those were for taxes only affecting the county government. This did not include the taxation from the other taxing units such as cities, school districts, recreation commissions, township cemeteries, etc., who receives no casino money.

Sumner County reduced its property taxes from a mill levy of 61.27 in 2011 to 42.66 in 2012 for more than a 30 percent savings.

But when you combine all the other taxing entities, the “overall” tax bill will be reduced at less than 10 percent rather than the 30 percent many were anticipating.

The rate reduction depends on where a person lives, of course. There are 86 taxing districts in Sumner County alone, and the tax rates vary for each district. Also keep in mind, residential property is assessed differently than commercial or agricultural property.

This year a resident within the Wellington city limits, has a mill levy of 162.033 in 2012 compared to 177.579 in 2011. A mill levy is the “tax rate” applied to the assessed value of a property. One mill is one dollar per $1,000 dollars of assessed value.

In 2012, the city of Wellington assessed 49.44 mills, the USD 353 school district 62.477 mills, and the Wellington Recreation Commission 5.956 mills. Add that with the 42.66 mills the county is assessing and the 1.5 from the state of Kansas and that equals a 162.033 mill levy rate – a 8.75 percent reduction from the previous year.

According to the annual tax levy list released by the Sumner County Clerk’s office last week, the county’s total assessed valuation skyrocketed to 205,210,684 in 2012 – the first time it has ever topped the $200 million mark. In 2011 it was 179,853,368. The city of Mulvane in Sumner County was the big beneficiary from the casino with a total assessed value of 28.36 million in 2012 compared to 5.62 million in 2011. Conversely, Wellington’s total assessed valuation was reduced from 43.37 million to 41.75 million.

This was one reason why Wellington officials fought so hard for the casino a few years back. The valuation of the community would have skyrocketed with a casino built within the Wellington city limits, thus allowing city officials to cut property taxes significantly, much like the Sumner County Commissioners are doing.

But there is no use crying over spilled milk.

Here are the figures of all the mill levy for cities within Sumner County over the past three years. Below that are the cities assessed evaluations, and below that it the mill levy breakdown within the Wellington city limits. For specific tax rates click here.