ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — St. Louis County officials met to discuss a bill that would give senior citizens relief on property taxes.
Instead of ending in a vote Tuesday afternoon, no decision was made.
A majority spoke in favor of the tax relief, but the main reason it didn't come to a vote was because some council members had questions on how exactly this bill would be implemented.
This all started when Governor Mike Parson signed Senate Bill 190 last week.
It created a program that allows most seniors who receive social security benefits to opt out of paying property taxes.
It's now up to individual counties to decide whether or not they want to opt into the tax relief.
That's why District 7 Councilman Mark Harder filed Bill 114, which if passed would make St. Louis County the first in the state to join the program.
Tuesday's meeting included public comment, where 18 people were signed up to speak.
Due to time constraints, only five were able to share their opinions, but of that five, four spoke in favor of the bill.
Those in favor talked about how seniors are struggling to pay their property taxes because of inflation and higher healthcare costs.
Michelle Harris, Clayton's Mayor, was the only public comment against the bill. She said that if passed, the reduced revenue from the bill will fall directly on the cities.
Those for the bill, including Dennis Ganahl, Missouri Tax Relief Now Founder, disagree with that statement.
"How many of you go out and say, 'Well, you know, I didn't get a raise last year.' Do you count that as a loss? I don't count that as a loss. I just didn't get a raise. The counties and government consider if they don't get automatic raises, it's somehow a loss. Well, I can tell you, as seniors and you heard from several of them today, they are hurting, and that's who this bill was written for," he said.
Councilman Harder said the bill has been a long time coming.
"To set the record straight, seniors will still pay their property tax, just like the rest of us. What is at question here is that we will not pay future increases because a credit will be in place to reduce the burden to the base payment. Forty-three out of 50 states already have some form of tax relief for seniors in place today," he said.
Only six of the seven council members were present at Tuesday afternoon's meeting.
The main message from everyone was that they want to do what's best for seniors, but they want to hear from the Department of Revenue and iron out the nuts and bolts of the bill.
If Council Bill 114 passes, the freeze on real estate taxes for seniors would go into effect next year.
At Tuesday's St. Louis County Council meeting, Harder moved to hold the bill, saying he wanted to listen to other stakeholders. Another meeting will be held next Tuesday.