By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
It could be crowded at the Buchanan County Courthouse today.
Today marks the first day Buchanan County senior citizens can file to have their property tax rates frozen.
The Buchanan County Commission unanimously voted to participate in the freeze created by state law.
Western District Commissioner, Ron Hook, says the legislature stumbled the first time it passed the law, but made corrections in its second attempt.
“The idea’s great, but the design on how to get to that point and who’s going to qualify and just so on and so forth.,” Hook explains to host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “It’s pretty generic now.”
Buchanan County residents who were at least 62 on January first are eligible for the property tax freeze. Under the program, senior citizens who own property in Buchanan County can apply to have their property tax rates kept at the 2024 level as long as they own the property.
Hook says the commission sought input before devising the application process.
“Not only the commissioners being involved in trying to do the matrix on getting this done, but we’ve had the Auditor, we’ve had the Assessor, we’ve had the Collector, and we’ve had the Recorder of Deeds all involved,” according to Hook.
Hook says a property owner only has to apply once, but will likely have to notify the county each year that they remain at that property.
“It’s going to be kind of like your personal property where you have to justify that you still own that car and that car’s still licensed to you, so on and so forth,” Hook says. “That process we’re still working on and we’ve got about a year to do it.”
Hook expects a lot of senior citizens will apply today at the courthouse. But he points out the application period runs through June 30th.
The state law is officially called the Senior Citizen Property Tax Credit. Buchanan County homeowners who are at least 62 will see the amount owed for most of the taxes on their primary residence held stable at the 2024 amount. For citizens who do not yet qualify, the amount owed will freeze in whatever year they do become eligible and apply.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.