By Chris OrletRecord Managing EditorTaxpayers in seven out of 31 county taxing districts saw increases of 4 percent or more — including some up to 13 percent — in their tax bills this year.Linda Stude, Warren County collector, said that is due to increases in tax rates by some taxing entities in the county.Higher tax rates in some school districts — specifically Montgomery County and Washington — accounted for the biggest increases.Portions of Warren County are in those school districts.Some taxpayers had increases in their bills of approximately 4 percent tax rate increase, others saw increases of approximately 8 percent increase and still others up to 12-13 percent, depending on where they live.All property owners in the county are levied state, county general revenue, county road and bridge, library, and SB40 taxes. It is the variations in the boundaries of school, ambulance, fire, college, city/village, and hospital districts that affect individual tax bills.Taxpayers with property in the following districts saw an approximate 4 percent increase in their bills:• R-1M District (which includes Washington School, Marthasville Ambulance and Fire, and East Central College + countywide entities).• R-1M MAR District (including Washington School, Marthasville Ambulance and Fire, East Central College, and the City of Marthasville + countywide entities).• R-1M 3 Creeks District (Washington School, Marthasville Ambulance and Fire, East Central College, and Village of Three Creeks + countywide entities).• R-2N District (Wright City School, Marthasville Ambulance, New Melle Fire, + countywide entities).Taxpayers with property in the following districts saw an approximate 8 percent increase in their bills:• R-1N ( Washington School, Marthasville Ambulance, New Melle Fire and East Central College + countywide entities).Districts with between 12 and 13 percent increase were:• J-23 District (which includes Montgomery County School District, Warren County Ambulance, Jonesburg Fire Dept + countywide entities).• J-23F District (Montgomery County School District, Warren County Ambulance, Warrenton Fire + countywide entities).According to Stude, a tax district is made up of numerous taxing entities, like fire districts, school districts, ambulance districts, and community college districts. Each entity has its own tax rate, and taken together they make up a tax district’s overall rate.This year all county tax districts (not to be confused with individual taxing entities) saw some increase. Most overall district increases, however, were only a few pennies. Many individual taxing entities in the county had no tax rate increase at all, while one entity showed a slight decrease in rate from last year. Many of the entities, that did show an increase in tax rate, increased by only a fraction of a cent.Theoretically a taxing district’s rates could go down in some of the entities that make up the composition of a taxing district; but, still go up overall if one or more of the entities comprising the makeup of the district increase their rates.Warren County taxpayers in the J-23 and J-23F districts (which includes the Montgomery County School District) saw the largest property tax rate increase (up approximately 58 cents from last year), however, out of 24,502 real estate tax bills sent out, only 212 went to taxpayers in those districts.“That affects less than 1 percent of the real estate parcels in the county,” Stude says.As for personal tax bills, J-23 and J-23F districts will generate 125 personal tax bills, which is also less than 1 percent of personal accounts. “While it is a small percentage of the taxpayers affected, I realize it is real money to those that are affected”, Stude said. The lesser percentage of increase in tax rate due to the increase in the Washington School tax rate affects about 19 percent of real estate parcels in the county and about 14 of personal property accounts.“Even after the tax rate increase, Montgomery County School District has the second to lowest tax rate for schools that serve Warren County,” Stude says. “Hermann School District, which serves parts of southwest Warren County, has the lowest school district rate this year. Last year Montgomery County School District had by far the lowest tax rate for schools in the county.”“The other thing that could have happened to cause an increase in the tax bill amount would be an increase in the assessed valuation or a change in the classification of the property,”  Stude added. If this is the case, clarification of the change needs to be sought at the assessor’s office.County Taxes by the Numbers