The Summersville Fire and Rescue Department received a matching fund grant check for $1469 to help purchase fire equipment and protective gear.

During June, July and August, matching funds grant checks for rural fire departments are being distributed by Missouri Department of Conservation Forestry Division staff.

The Angeline Work Team of the Missouri Department of Conservation recently presented a matching funds grant check to Sonny Holden, Fire Chief of Summersville Fire and Rescue. This department received $1469 to help purchase fire fighting equipment and protective gear. The MDC Eminence Forestry District office staff would like to personally thank Sonny Holden and all members of the Summersville Fire and Rescue for their response and participation in wildfire suppression efforts in Shannon County. This rural fire department has an aggressive program of well trained volunteers who are dedicated as well as very professional. Wildfire suppression efforts in Shannon County would be much more challenging without their initial response and suppression efforts and continual communication with MDC personnel. This grant check will help the Summersville Fire and Rescue further enhance their program.

One hundred eighty-two fire departments will be receiving checks of up to $3,000 to help them with the purchase of personal protective gear, and fire fighting equipment, for wildland d fires as well as structure fires.

The total funding for fire department matching grants this year is $376,748.

Fire departments are required to match these funds which are provided by the US Forest Service and the Missouri Department of Conservation.

During the last 26 years, over $5 million has been distributed to rural fire departments to help them increase the safety of their firefighters and provide them hem with better fire fighting equipment.

Texas County and the Texas County board of equalization reached a compromise over residential property prices in the county, which will raise the market value of homes by about 15 percent. Originally the state sought to raise the value of residential structures by 20 percent and double the valuation of a residential lot by a factor of two.

With the deal, the State Tax Commission also will release about $71,000 in funds it withheld because of what it said was lack of progress on a parcel-by-parcel review of homes by the county assessor’s office.

The board of equalization - composed of Commissioners Linda Garrett, Joe B. Whetstine and Don Shelhammer, Surveyor Louis Carmack and Brian Reed of Licking and Steve Matherly of Cabool (two citizens appointed by the county commission), earlier rejected the state’s order to raise home values on the books.

The equalization board had second thoughts last week about the fight with state with only one dissenter. "It is a good compromise," said Robert Epperson, manager of technical services for the State Tax Commission.

The decision will spark a flurry of work to notify about 10,000 owners of residential property in the county. That job - by state statute - falls on the county clerk’s office. Property valuations had already been sent to political subdivisions. With the decision, a new round of figures will be sent.

For taxpayers, it is bound to be confusing, said County Clerk Don Troutman, whose office is trying to distribute the information to taxpayers.

Some property owners have received from the assessor an "impact statement" that their property values had increased following the parcel-by-parcel review. With the compromise, another notice will reflect the additional 15 percent on the values of homes and 25 percent on the price of a lot.

Property owners will be able to appeal to the board of equalization beginning July 21.

The state enforcement started on May 30, 2007, when county commissioners and the county assessor met with the State Tax Commission to discuss the completion of work to bring the county in compliance with state law.

In a letter dated June 6, the State Tax Commission set the terms of an agreement so "there is no misunderstanding regarding the plan for reviewing parcels and adjusting assessments."

State officials say after the letter was signed, little was done to keep the parcel-by-parcel review of residential property on schedule. The job wasn’t completed until the end of May of this year despite sending state personnel in the field to help. Along the way, the state withheld nine months of reimbursement for tardy work. James said she was hampered by a series of bad weather events and the fact there are more than 10,000 parcels to review. James said the parcel-by-parcel review was fairer for taxpayers - rather than instituting an across-the-board increase.

By the end of April, the State Tax Commission issued an order concerning property values in the county, which the assessor and later - the county board of equalization - defied. It said residential property values were too low: The state said a $5,000 lot was worth $10,000 and a home on the books for $100,000 has a market value of $120,000.

The compromise changes the $100,000 home’s worth to $115,000 and the lot’s value to $6,250.

So if the tax rate is $5 for each $100 of assessed valuation, how much more taxes will county residents pay? About $12 for the lot and $143 for the house. The state auditor’s office has the final say, but by state law, political subdivisions are required to roll their levies back to prevent receiving a tax windfall.

The Summersville school district will have a 5.42% increase in property valuation; The city of Summersville, a 4.26% increase; The Mtn. View Summersville Ambulance will experience a 4.59% increase in valuation; Carroll Township will show a 2.08% increase in valuation; Date Township, a 5.49% increase. Current Township shows one of the higher increases with 13.10%. Texas County valuation, as a whole, increased by an average of 11.10% The largest increases will be Mountain Grove with a 27% increase and the village of Raymondville with a 23.48% increase.