Some counties across Missouri are implementing a senior property tax freeze, and Cape Girardeau County might be next.
Senate Bill 190, passed in late 2023, allows older adults to freeze their property tax rate. The law allows senior Missouri residents to have their current property taxes frozen for as long as they live in their residence.
The law was revised in 2024 with Senate Bill 756 to clarify who is eligible for the tax credit. The law was amended again earlier this year with Senate Bill 3 to have counties put the property tax freeze before voters no later than April 2026, if county officials have not authorized the credit via ordinance. Citizens can initiate a referendum to enact the freeze by gathering signatures of at least 5% of the registered voters in the county who voted in the last gubernatorial election.
Older adults who are eligible for the tax freeze must be 62 years old or older, own a home or have an interest in property that is their primary address and is liable for the payment of real property taxes on the home.
According to the advocacy group MO Tax Relief Now, 80% of Missouri’s seniors have their property taxes frozen, which saves seniors more than $300 million a year in income taxes.
Local citizens organize petition effort
Phyllis Diebold, 80, is one of three who are petitioning to implement the tax freeze in Cape Girardeau County. She said working on the board at the Cape Girardeau Senior Center inspired her to start a petition.
“I would see women and men halving their pills because they couldn’t afford their medicine, and also just everyday complaining about the increasing prices because they’re on fixed incomes,” Diebold said. “I know they can’t afford it, and if they’re going to stay in their homes, you know, I don’t think they’re going to be able to. I think they’re probably going to be forced out of their homes.”
The petition needs a little more than 2,000 signatures from Cape Girardeau County residents, but Diebold said she hopes to get at least 3,000. Diebold said that they hope to get in all the signatures by Aug. 20, with the election date being Nov. 4.
Diebold held a meeting at the Cape Library in late June for residents to sign the petition and help teach them how to fill out a ballot. Since the meeting, Diebold the support from the community has been overwhelming.
“(The residents are) talking to their neighbors, and their neighbors are getting involved. … I’ve got one gal that’s already got 80 signatures,” Diebold said. “There’s a lot of seniors here. Even if they’re not seniors, they got a grandma, a dad (and) a mom that age (that) could benefit from it.”
Mechanics of the freeze
Cape Girardeau County commissioners have been working with their legal team to understand the freeze and make sure it complies with the state constitution. Clint Tracy, presiding commissioner, said the commission is not against seniors receiving a tax freeze but wants to ensure fairness to all taxpayers.
“Our approach is we want to do something that’s fair and equitable for everyone. We want to broaden that scope (and) to treat everyone the same because that’s really what we feel like our duty is under the constitution,” Tracy said.
Cape Girardeau County Collector Barbara Gholson said there is a misconception of the law and it is not as simple as it seems.
“What we’ve understood is (that) anything that’s a debt service doesn’t get frozen. Anything that’s the state tax, which is for the blind pension fund, doesn’t freeze,” Gholson said. “If the tax rate goes up to 5.1% instead of 5%, we’re going to have to freeze that .1% on all those entities except certain ones that are debt service or the state. So it’s not just a simple, ‘We’re just going to freeze everything and then find out who’s eligible for it.’”
Gholson said she is unsure of how many people in the county will be eligible for the freeze.
“I know that there are 30,000 tax bills that have residential property on them, but I don’t know how many of those people are 62 and over. Until they actually come in and say, ‘Hey, I fit these qualifications,’ we wouldn’t know who they all are,” Gholson said.
Although the freeze can benefit seniors, especially those on fixed incomes, Tracy said the freeze would affect the county’s taxing jurisdictions.
“It’s going to affect schools, the county health department, mental health, all those things are going to see reduced funding in the future,” Tracy said.
Gholson said the credit from the freeze will still be considered as revenue, although they will not be able to give that money to a tax entity — such as public schools, libraries and fire districts.
“Now, one thing by statute is that the collector shall put the amount of the credit on the tax bill, and someone has to tell the entities by Nov. 30 how much they’re not going to get,” Gholson said.
Commissioners have looked at how other counties have implemented the freeze, and they want to make the process easy for taxpayers and the Collector’s Office. Instead of having someone bring their deed, as well as other supporting documentation, and filling out a form, the commission wants to enforce a homestead exemption where an eligible person can opt-in or out of the freeze for their primary residence.
