St. Louis County is delaying mailing tax bills until after Tuesday's election for political reasons, the campaign of Bill Corrigan, the Republican challenger to County Executive Charlie Dooley, a Democrat, charged today.

Jeff Roe, a consultant to the Corrigan campaign, said the county traditionally has sent them to taxpayers in October. They went out in November last year and are scheduled to go at about the same time this year.

Mac Scott, a spokesman for Dooley, called the charge spurious and a great stretch made by a campaign "that is struggling in an election."

He said "the bills weren't ready at this time last year and he (Corrigan) wants them out a week earlier?"

Roe said other charter counties have maintained past schedules even though the state changed the tax system in 2008, but St. Louis County has not.

Corrigan in a statement said "Dooley clearly didn't want these tax bills to arrive in county homes before the November 2nd election so they didn't take their anger of a higher tax bill out on Dooley."

The Corrigan campaign also has said that State Auditor Susan Montee has held up certifications of property tax rates to delay tax bills. Montee denied the charge.

Dooley and Montee, a Democrat seeking reelection on Tuesday, have not fulfilled their obligations at time when property taxes are a significant issue in the county executive election, Roe said.

"Taxpayers are not protected here," he said. Corrigan said "now taxpayers have three less weeks to plan for this expense -- during one of the hardest economic periods in history."

Scott noted that the county cannot process bills until some jurisdictions and the state auditor's resolve differences about tax rates.

But Montee said the county does not have to wait for her office to certify tax rates. She said she cannot force taxing jurisdictions to change rates.

Under state law, the auditor reviews tax rates and either certifies that they are correct or refers the jurisdiction levying them to the attorney general's office.

"I couldn't hold up anything if I wanted to," Montee said.

She said issues that prevent certification often are mathematical and typographical errors and disagreements about proper tax rate ceilings from which jurisdictions roll back tax rates.

She and her staff said they process rates as they arrive.

"This is exactly like every other year," Montee said. "We always work through the issues."

As of this afternoon the auditor's office has certified almost all rates in St. Louis County. It is trying to resolve issues with five jurisdictions with rates property owners pay and two with zero rates. The five are Grantwood Village, Kinloch, Pine Lawn, the Kinloch Fire Protection District and the University City Special Business District. The two with zero rates are Bella Villa and the Elmwood Park Street Light District.

Since Tuesday, the auditor's office certified 13 other jurisdictions in the county whose rates it had questioned. The office today sent a letter to Olivette saying that its tax rates did not comply with state law. The office and city disagree on rate ceilings for calculations.

Last year, the auditor's office reviewed statewide 4,866 property tax rates of 2,820 jurisdictions. It ultimately found that 12 taxing jurisdictions levied 16 rates that were higher than what the office considered proper; 13 of these them were in St. Louis County.

The office's 2009 tax report said the number from the county is a result of uncertainty about the four-rate system - separate rates for residential, commercial, agricultural and personal property - that operates there.