CLAYTON — Both sides of a fight over tax relief for seniors are mobilizing for a showdown.
Opponents have already moved to change the state law, saying there are too many unanswered questions about enacting it. Supporters say they are mounting a signature campaign to bypass elected officials and take the tax freeze straight to voters.
“We’re going to take a very methodical approach,†said Dennis Ganahl, managing director for the advocacy group Missouri Tax Relief Now, which supported the law as it moved through the Legislature and as the ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Council considered it.
On the other side, the state’s county government association has already started lobbying the Legislature to change the state law.
“Members of the General Assembly are saying, ‘Hey, we’d be willing to work on fixes,’†said Steve Hobbs, executive director of the Missouri Association of Counties.
People are also reading…
In early July, Gov. Mike Parson signed Senate Bill 190, which allows counties to suspend property tax increases for seniors who are eligible for Social Security, own a home and are required to make tax payments on that home.
But earlier this week, the plan failed in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County amid reservations from the Democratic-majority council. The four council members who voted against the bill raised concerns about one-size-fits-all approach that equally benefits wealthy seniors as well as those in need. Some worried about a lack of clarity in the bill.
“There are more questions than there are answers,†said Councilwoman Rita Heard Days, a Democrat from Bel-Nor.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican Councilman Mark Harder of Ballwin, said the next clear step outlined in the state law is to take the measure directly to county voters through a ballot initiative.
Harder said late last week that he’s leaving it up to groups such as Missouri Tax Relief Now to pursue the measure.
It won’t be easy, Ganahl said. The rules around a ballot petition to enact an ordinance are complicated.
To get the measure on the ballot, supporters will have to gather 5% of the votes cast in the 2020 gubernatorial election — and not just countywide but 5% of the votes in each one of at least five ºüÀêÊÓƵ County districts, according to ºüÀêÊÓƵ County Republican Director of Elections Rick Stream. There are seven districts in the county.
That means supporters would likely have to go door to door in each of those five districts to get signatures from people they know live in the district. They’ll have to gather a minimum of about 17,600 valid signatures in total.
The measure would have to appear on a general election date, which can fall in April, August or November. Petitioners would have to deliver the signatures to the election authority at least 60 days before the election, and the signatures would have to be verified.
Approval from a simple majority of voters would enact the measure.
Ganahl declined to detail the group’s strategy but said it will analyze voter data to determine when it might have an advantage. He said the measure won’t make the ballot this year.
But if it makes it at all, supporters could win: Of in Missouri, nearly 70% cast ballots in November 2022, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of U.S. Census data. Only half of the voter population age 35-44 voted in that election.
At the same time, there’s powerful resistance to the plan from local government and education advocates.
The county governments, school districts, fire districts and elected officials have voiced opposition to the county bill. Hobbs, of the counties association, said his group has already talked with legislators in Jefferson City willing to discuss fixes, though he declined to name the General Assembly members.
The counties association is forming a task force of county elected officials to come up with a report for legislators on suggested changes. Hobbs expects that report to be done by early December so a General Assembly member could potentially pre-file legislation ahead of the session that starts in January.
Ganahl said his group worries the counties association could urge legislators to remove the law’s provision allowing a ballot initiative.
Many ºüÀêÊÓƵ County seniors are angry and motivated.
Maureen Flint, 79, has lived in unincorporated south ºüÀêÊÓƵ County since 1982, and she has dutifully paid her property taxes ever since. But she’s not sure how much longer she’ll last there — her property tax bill went up by $1,000 this year. She expects they’ll have to begin paying bills on credit cards soon.
“These are not the golden years,†Flint said.
She wants to see the issue on her ballot. She votes as reliably as she pays her taxes.
“Go ahead, put it on the ballot,†Flint said. “I’m sure it’ll pass.â€
Editor's note: This story was updated Monday afternoon to clarify the percentage of seniors who voted in the November 2022 election.