ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo.--A St. Louis County Councilman who wants to make the county the first in the state to freeze property taxes for seniors under a bill awaiting Governor Mike Parson’s signature says there’s already a date set for Parson to turn the bill into law.

Councilman Mark Harder told a gathering of Maryland Heights Township Republicans Thursday night that Parson plans to sign Senate Bill 190 on June 21 in Jefferson City. A spokesperson for Gov. Parson told Spectrum News Friday the date has not been confirmed and that to her knowledge, the legislation was still under review. If signed, the bill would go into effect August 28, 2023.

The bill lets counties grant property tax credits “equal to the difference between the real property tax liability on the homestead in a given year minus the real property tax liability on such homestead in the year in which the taxpayer became an eligible taxpayer,” to taxpayers eligible for social security retirement benefits…are the owner of record of or have a legal or equitable interest in a homestead.. and are liable for the payment of real property taxes on such homestead.”

Harder, a candidate for the Missouri State Senate in 2024, has sponsored St. Louis County’s version of the bill.

The Missouri Municipal League, the Missouri Association of Counties and the Missouri School Board Association are still urging the Governor to veto the bill.

According to a budget analysis prepared by St. Louis County Department of Revenue Director Scott Lakin and Mark Devore, Collector of Revenue, the bill would have meant a loss of $14.2 million in revenues for the 2021-2022 fiscal year and a total of $33.6 million over the last five years. The analysis also claims there will be costs incurred.

State Rep. Ben Keathley, R-Chesterfield, a supporter of the tax credit bill in the House, said there would be no budgetary impact.

“We're talking about tax dollars that have never been collected or realized before. This is an assessment cap at the current levels so there is not a single tax dollar that any entity in government, that a school board, a fire board, a county, a city is receiving today that they will no longer be receiving tomorrow,” he said. “What it does is it stops government from taking these passive tax creep increments through the rising house market and speculation in the house market. Every tax dollar received today will be continued to receive by all government entities. this just stops future tax dollars from coming in.” 

But the St. Louis County analysis also suggests there will be costs incurred in addition to the losses.

“The Assessor will continue to assess all real property, which includes the need for increased value mailings, increased inbound call volume from confused seniors and billing,” according to the analysis, “there likely would be annual software update costs and expense to properly calculate the amount of the tax credit, which would not be a uniform amount across multiple tax bills,” it continued, predicting that more staff would need to be hired as a result.

The state legislation also would end state taxes on Social Security benefits beginning in 2024. Currently, Missouri residents only pay taxes on Social Security if they make more than $85,000 a year or, if married, they make $100,000 a year or more. Lawmakers extended the tax break to all seniors.

The St. Louis County measure is on the next County Council meeting Tuesday for final passage.