As the discussion on property tax reform continues to stir in Missouri, St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann has aligned himself with a plan that could freeze real estate taxes for homeowners. The spotlight fell on this initiative during a recent Special Interim Missouri House Committee hearing on Aug. 20, in Clayton, which was one in a series aimed at collecting data for potential legislation.
Notably, Ehlmann's endorsement, though tinted with caution, is focused on a wider implementation of this tax freeze. Under the proposed legislative measures in Senate Bill 3, which cleared the legislature in June and is set to be operative from Sept. 9, the freeze would only affect specific Missouri counties. Voters in St. Charles, Jefferson, Franklin, Lincoln, and Warren counties will get a say on the matter, whereas St. Louis City and St. Louis County residents will see no such option, according to a St. Charles County press release.
"I’m for the freeze, but the legislature needs to make it available to everyone in the region," Ehlmann conveyed his standpoint to the St. Charles County's announcement. He's concerned about the imbalance that this partial application could foster, prompting a potential population drift toward counties where tax rates are more favorable. Moreover, he highlighted the legislative oversight that could enable citizens with frozen property taxes to hike other taxation forms detrimentally impacting local businesses.
The reality of reduced revenue is not lost on Ehlmann, who referenced the County's own voluntary curb on personal property taxes back in 2022. Property taxes, accounting for 5.6% of the county's budget, are allocated solely to specific services such as road maintenance and 911 dispatch, with none funneling into the general operating funds, the St. Charles County's press release explained.
On the legislative side, efforts to present the property tax freeze to voters in April 2026 are underway. Ehlmann anticipated that the required bill would get the green light on Sep. 8 and be signed promptly the following day. He's in favor of delivering this type of tax relief to the electorate, though he also flagged concerns over the legal sturdiness of the freeze bill, with at least one lawsuit challenging its constitutionality on the grounds of inter-county discrimination already in motion. "Before the voters pass the freeze and then, a year later, the state courts throw it out, the legislators should fix it," Ehlmann told the St. Charles County officiators.
