The value assigned to property for tax purposes set by an assessor is just as significant as the rate of taxation set by local governments. Both directly affect the amounts property owners owe each January.

Without a doubt, the process of setting values is long, tedious and involved. But using state-set criteria, it should also be fairly objective. For instance, the valuation placed on one 2,500-square-foot-home on a half-acre lot would be the same as an identical home of the same age next door.

Apparently, the situation grows more complicated on larger properties.

Warren County has not yet resolved valuation protests filed by Riverwalk and Ameristar casino companies over amounts owed this year and those firms, joined by owners of three apartment complexes and a pipeline company, have filed protests over figures for 2011 taxes, too.

Warren County Tax Assessor Richard Holland said he used state-set criteria for the casinos. The criteria are not secret. Yet Ameristar says its accountants used the same criteria and came up with a vastly different (and lower) figure.

So is this a math problem or what?

To do their jobs, Warren County supervisors, Vicksburg officials and public school trustees need reliable projections of property tax revenue that will be flowing into their treasuries. That’s made more difficult when there’s disagreement — especially by large taxpayers — about what’s due.

It appears everyone in these cases is acting in good faith, but the question needs to be asked: Isn’t there a better way?