Missouri lawmakers are again considering changes to a law that would allow counties to freeze property taxes for senior citizens.

Last year, Missouri lawmakers approved Senate Bill 190, which allowed counties to “grant a property tax credit to eligible taxpayers,” and defined an eligible taxpayer as anyone “eligible for Social Security retirement benefits.”

That clause, though, left open to counties to determine at what age someone was eligible to receive the tax credit. The St. Louis County ordinance required that a person be 67 before being eligible. St. Charles County only required a senior to be 62.

Questions about the bill prevented several other counties from passing their own ordinances, with many asking the state for clarification.

Now, Missouri lawmakers are considering Senate Bill 756, which defines “eligible taxpayer” as anyone 62 or older. It also states that the taxpayer “shall not owe delinquent taxes, interest, or penalties to the county.”

The bill is currently still being heard by the Senate Economic Development and Tax Policy Committee. Its sponsor is state Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, who represents Buchanan and Platte counties.

The Warren County Commission has had multiple meetings with residents to discuss implementation of the policy, and resolved at a meeting in October to pass an ordinance in the near future.

At that meeting, commissioners did say they were waiting on clarification from state lawmakers before acting.

“It’s going to be a process,” Commissioner Matt Flake said after the October meeting. “We want all the answers we can get from our convention at MAC and we definitely want the state houses to take this up and give us some answers on how to implement this.”

About the author: Jason Koch is the editor of The Warren County Record, and covers local news and government for the newspaper. He has won multiple awards from both the Indiana and Illinois APME and from the Illinois Press Association. He can be reached at 636-456-6397 or at jason@warrencountyrecord.com