By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Buchanan County Commissioners will freeze property tax assessments for residents 62 and older, under the provisions of a new state law.
The Missouri General Assembly approved a bill last year authorizing counties to keep assessments from rising for older residents. It expanded who is eligible this year.
The Buchanan County Commission has informally endorsed enacting the law locally.
Buchanan County Presiding Commissioner Scott Nelson says he wants to make it as easy as possible for residents to apply for the tax break.
“We need to think in terms of the people, a person who is over 62 that, let’s just assume that they own their house, they live in their house, it’s their primary residence, all that,” Nelson tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “Okay, what do I do? Do I just come to the courthouse, stand in the middle, and have everybody come to me or what? So what is the process to get signed up?”
Nelson says the county commission has been discussing the process with the appropriate county officeholders. The officeholders have been instructed to report back to the commission on a proposed process.
The commission is also reaching out to similar counties on how they have or plan to implement holding the property tax assessments of older residents steady.
“Now, we’re not reinventing the wheel. We are looking at similar counties, first-class counties and chartered. So, Boone County, Greene County, Clay County, Platte County, there are some other ones I’m missing,” Nelson says. “We are probably going to use as our fist draft for application Boone County’s (process).”
Nelson says the original law was confusing. He says the legislature not only expanded the bill to include retirees who don’t receive Social Security benefits, but it also clarified provisions in the old law.
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