CLAYTON • The St. Louis County Board of Equalization, following a dramatic hearing Tuesday afternoon about the appraised values of the county's two casinos, threw out one of its rulings and stood by another.

Earlier this month, the board cut the values of River City Casino in Lemay from the the county assessor's preliminary estimate of $284 million to $164 million.

It reduced the value of Harrah's casino in Maryland Heights from $502 million to $215 million.

Together, the cuts stood to cost taxing districts about $16 million in property taxes from the casinos.

Last week, County Assessor Jake Zimmerman assailed the cuts, calling them "outrageous" while questioning the board's competency.

On Tuesday, board chairman Leslie Broadnax defended herself and her fellow board members, accusing Zimmerman of "creating a problem and then campaigning against" it.

Zimmerman took the podium to present the county's case. "If it's to be beat up on the assessor day, that's fine," he told the board. "I don't care who did what here. All I care about is that we get to the right value."

After an hour of testimony that include comments from Zimmerman, attorneys and officials on behalf of the casinos and representatives of taxing districts, Broadnax and her fellow board members, Burton Boxerman and Thomas Craddock, huddled together with the board's attorney to sort out the matter.

Four minutes later, they delivered their ruling: The board set the market value on River City back to where it had been in 2010 — $270 million, and left Harrah's at $215 million.