County Commission Approves Balloting on Senior Tax ‘Freeze’

by Kris Richards

The Washington County Commission approved language on Monday, August 12th, 2024 at the regular Commission Meeting at the Courthouse for registered voters to decide on the proposed Senior Citizen Tax ‘Freeze’ at the Tuesday, Nov. 5th Election.

Voters will get to decide the question on the freeze on valuation for Seniors that are 62 years and older and own their home.

The theory sounds good, now let me explain what I’ve seen and learned about the Senate Bill 190 and Senate Bill 756 that was passed and signed into law by the Governor.

The language says that the tax payer, qualifying as a Senior by being 62 years or older, will have their valuation frozen on their homestead (home where you live and own) and that the savings for the Senior Citizen will be the amount of difference from the frozen valuation of the home and the raised valuation (if that happens).

The tax payer will have a base year - the year that the value of the home will be locked in - and then from then on, if the value of the home goes up the ‘frozen value’ will be what the Senior pays on.

There are lots of questions and lots of unknowns for this proposition as it is new and not well defined.

The Washington County Commission decided to put it to a vote of the people - registered Voters in the County - and let them decide.

Washington County Assessor Heather Eckhoff, Washington County Clerk Jenny Allen and myself (Kris Richards, County Collector) have spent many hours on this already. We have gone to meetings, talked to other Counties, other office holders, attorneys and the public about this proposal.

Assessor Eckhoff has run some sample numbers and the answers are very sad for Seniors. Using 2019 through 2022 as a sample base, the Assessor found that a house valued in the $150,000 range only had a slight change and the savings over the three years after the ‘freeze year’ was only about $4.15 in total.

The only way a Senior will save on their real estate tax bill is if their value goes up. This does not do anything to taxes, it only gives a break if there is a value change.

And, there have been years when values have actually gone down.

The other part of this is for the Voters to know that this only affects the County. State taxes continue as usual.

The cost that has been initially proposed to change the computer software that the County uses in the Collector’s Office and in the Assessor’s Office for this Senior ‘tax freeze’ has been $20,000 to $25,000. After the updating of the computer software, then we will have to take applications from Seniors to see if they qualify for the program. The application will have to be verified at the Courthouse through the Assessor’s Office, the County Clerk’s Office and the Collector’s Office and then sworn to and notarized.

The application process would have to be done each year to make sure the property still belongs to the Senior that is applying.

The idea sounds good and the politicians in Jefferson City used this to say ‘We passed a tax break for Seniors’. And they did, if you qualify, apply and are satisfied with what may be a few dollars a year (or less).

Jenny Allen, Heather Eckhoff and myself spent over two hours in the County Commission Room with State Rep. Chris Dinkins going over these Senate Bills before they were passed. We encouraged Rep. Dinkins to go back to Jeff City and pass on our thoughts and concerns about the whole proposal and process.

At that time, we asked Rep. Dinkins to propose a change to the Missouri Property Tax Credit for Seniors who are on limited income. We wanted to get the income guidelines raised so more people would qualify and also emphasized the fact that it already existed.

There is definitely a desire to give Senior Citizens a tax break. The County Commission and the local elected office holders all agree that anyone on a fixed income is having a hard time these days. We all know that inflation and the cost of living has gone up and up. This proposal is not a viable solution for anyone to really save money and the feeling by those who have been working to get this started at the Courthouse are disappointed with the whole proposal.

This was passed in Jefferson City by State legislators and handed off to Missouri Counties to try and figure out. It is another example of the disconnect between local and state government.

We encourage voters to contact their State representatives and senators and get them to really give tax payers a break, don’t just do something for a ‘quote’ in the news.