The Francis Howell Board of Education voted 4-3 Thursday to approve the school district's 2011 property tax rate of $5.1852 per $100 assessed valuation, up from the 2010 rate of $5.0008.

The owner of a $200,000 home would pay $1,909.29 this year, an increase of $8.99 from the $1,900.30 they would have paid in 2010.

Voting to approve the new rate were board members Steve Johnson, Cindy Bice, Amy McEvoy and Marty Hodits. Voting against the rate increase were board President Mike Sommer and members Mark Lafata and Mike Hoehn.

The new rate includes $2.2818 in the general fund, $2.1721 in the special revenue fund, $0.0600 in the capital projects fund and $0.6713 in the debt service fund.

Due to reassessment, homeowners in the Francis Howell district saw their assessed valuation decrease an average 3.1 percent this year. As of August 2011, the district's total assessed valuation was $2.2 billion, down $83 million from the December 2010 assessed valuation of $2.3 billion.