EXCELSIOR SPRINGS – The school district’s tax rate hearing will be later than usual this year. On Aug. 9, the Board of Education approved setting the hearing for 5:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at the district offices. As Superintendent Travis Hux mentioned, tax rate hearings typically take place in late August. Hux attributed the change to the state’s reclassification of Clay County, where much of the district is located. With the designation of Clay as a first-class county earlier this year, per state statutes, the deadline for setting the tax rate is Oct. 1, rather than Sept. 1, as has been the case; thus, the county has extra time to determine assessed valuation, he explained. “Because our school district is in both Ray and Clay, this will default for Ray as well,” Hux said. Assessed valuation will increase, in keeping with increases in property values, Hux said. He expects the combined value of properties in Clay and Ray counties to b...