St. Louis County struggles to get started on senior tax freeze, City succeeding
ST. LOUIS – St. Louis County has been facing several troubles in an effort to get their Senior Property Tax Freeze Program moving forward. Meanwhile, in the City of St. Louis, things have moved along well with its program.
City Assessor Mike Dauphin’s office is in charge of implementing the initiative in the City of St. Louis.
“I feel like we got ahead of it last year, right when the governor signed it and passed it,” he said. “We kind of just immediately put our heads together and tried to understand what kind of issues were going to arise and what kind of infrastructure we were going to need… it’s been relatively smooth so far.”
The St. Louis County Revenue Department told the County Council that they would need $1.7 million to get the program up and running. The city says its cost is a fraction of that.
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“The costs have been not nearly as much as I’ve heard from other counties,” Dauphin said. “We’re sitting probably under $50,000 to roll this out.”
There are around 2,000 applications so far, he said. To qualify, applicants must be 62 years old or older with a house that’s $500,000 or under.
The application closes June 30, and Dauphin is anticipating around 5,000 total applicants.
“It’s absolutely going to be a help to senior citizens,” he says.
Meanwhile, St. Louis County continues to work its way out of its issues with the price tag the Department of Revenue is asking for.
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