1 West Liberty St.   Suite 301      Farmington, Missouri  63640
Harold Gallaher-Presiding Commissioner          573-701-5633   [email protected]
Kary Buckley-Assoc. Commissioner-District 1  573-760-7776    [email protected]
David Kater-Assoc. Commissioner-District 2    573-701-6006         [email protected]

September 10, 2024

Our response to Senate Bills 190 and 756.

Over the past couple of years some Missouri Senators cobbled together a bill (SB190) to reduce the property taxes of Missouri’s Senior citizens. They did it quickly and badly!

SB190 only reduced the taxes for citizens on Social Security and not on other types of retirements. The rules were sometimes silly and would be extremely difficult to enact and then to enforce. Senate Bill 756 made some valiant efforts to correct these errors but did not completely answer all the questions.

Here’s where we are on this. The St. Francois County Commission absolutely intends to enact some form of the tax revision law but are concerned about how to do this without causing more grief for the citizens than without doing so. It is important to note the laws will FREEZE the taxes on property when the application is approved. It does NOT FORGIVE those person’s taxes! In short, your taxes will probably remain where they were last year.

Questions abound on this. Consider the case of one spouse being 62 (the minimum qualifying age) and the other spouse younger. If the qualifying spouse must move elsewhere due to health or other issues, and no longer resides in the primary residence, will they lose their qualification?

People may think the intent of the new laws would reduce ALL the taxes on your tax bill, it simply cannot do so. A portion of your tax bill goes to the State of Missouri and we cannot change that. Are we allowed to reduce the taxes for your school district? We are also not sure of that.

Only a very small portion of your “St. Francois County” tax bill remains with the County. The General Revenue and Road District #1 are the only funds we use in our budget. Depending on the various districts, etc. you reside in, the County’s portion may only account for about 5% of your total tax bill

All the other items are simply collected for those districts or agencies and we forward the funds to them. We act as collectors for them. It is an efficiency move as cities no longer employ a Collector.

It is also important to note that your tax assessment could actually go DOWN! In that event you would be frozen at the HIGHER tax level. One other county did a study and learned that one resident’s savings over a total of 3 years was a whopping $4.12. This may not be the major savings that so many citizens are hoping for.

Your assessment must be updated regularly by law. The County’s Complete ASSESSED EVALUATION is needed in the many legal aspects of carrying out the County’s regular business in state and federal levels of government. Consider that you may one day sell your primary residence. The new owner will need to know the CURRENT assessment in making his decision. Even if he will qualify as a senior citizen, his frozen tax level will be based on the assessment at the time of his purchase and qualification, not on your previous level as the seller.

These questions are just the tip of the iceberg. The very many software changes that will be needed are ready. The qualification questionnaire is in its final stages of design, etc. Please be patient. WE ARE WORKING ON THIS.