Real estate tax relief for Jefferson County seniors may be coming, but not until 2025.
The Jefferson County Council voted unanimously Dec. 11 to give preliminary approval to legislation that would allow tax credits for senior homeowners.
The council is scheduled to take a final vote tonight, Dec. 21, on a bill that would allow the county to participate in the benefits of Senate Bill 190, which the Missouri Legislature approved and Gov. Mike Parson signed into law earlier this year.
The bill creates a program that would “freeze” real estate taxes on the primary home for anyone old enough to be eligible for Social Security benefits, currently 62.
Counties may participate in the tax relief program by either passing legislation or putting the issue on the ballot for voters to decide.
While St. Louis and St. Charles counties already enacted legislation to allow the relief, Jefferson County officials had taken a “wait and see” attitude until recently because County Counselor Jalesia F.M. Kuenzel said SB 190 is fraught with inconsistencies and confusing language.
In September, the County Council passed a resolution supporting the idea of the tax breaks with a commitment to allow them once those issues were cleared up.
But county officials decided to take a more decisive step this month.
“This (bill) is the result of discussions with the council people and county leaders to concede that this is where we’re all going. This (state) legislation is not going anywhere. It’s here to stay, and everyone agrees that extending some tax relief to our senior population is something we all want to do, with no question,” Kuenzel said.
However, the bill before the County Council specifies that the tax relief won’t take effect for Jefferson County residents until the 2025 tax year.
“The problem, as we’ve been saying all along, is that the legislation is confusing. Because 2024 is not a reassessment year, not having it in effect will not affect most people because their property taxes will be essentially the same as 2023,” Kuenzel said. “This gives us a chance to do it right. There are so many unanswered questions.”
Kuenzel said a common misnomer is that SB 190 would freeze real estate property taxes for eligible seniors.
“It’s not a tax freeze. That would be easy,” she said. “As we understand it, it’s more of a tax credit, where your assessed value of your home would go up or down as usual, but then the county would issue you a credit on the difference between your tax bill at a given point in time and the current year.”
Kuenzel said while the results may be similar, the process is much more complex at the administrative level.
“Then there’s the big question of whose taxes are we crediting,” she said. “Just the county taxes, such as the road and bridge tax, or school district, fire district, ambulance district taxes. That’s a real gray area.”
Kuenzel said while it will be up to the General Assembly – and possibly the courts – to decide some of the major issues, the county will take action to be ready for the breaks to take effect in 2025.
“We’ll be meeting to discuss the process – how these credits are processed in the Collector’s Office,” she said. “We’ll likely need to hire more personnel for this program. How many more? And we’ll need additional software, and that’s going to involve some costs.”
Kuenzel said officials from counties around the state will discuss how to coordinate information.
“The state is allowing residents a credit on only their principal homestead,” she said. “The counties will need to share information on that. How will that happen?”
But, Kuenzel said, if the County Council passes the ordinance, it will indeed happen.
“The next thing you know, it will be 2025, and we will have senior tax relief in Jefferson County,” she said. “In the meantime, it will be interesting, but everybody truly wants to see this happen. We just want to make sure that Jefferson County is not wasting its taxpayers’ money by getting bogged down in lawsuits. Make no mistake, litigation is expensive, and the people of Jefferson County would be on the hook to pay for it.”