St. Charles County taxpayers are set to save roughly $4 million after the County Council voted to eliminate the county government’s share of personal property taxes for 2026. The move applies to the portion of tax bills tied to cars, mobile homes, farm equipment and other taxable personal property.
During Monday’s meeting, the council approved the change on a 6-0 vote, according to St. Charles County Government. The county estimates it will give up about $3.4 million in Road and Bridge Fund revenue and another $660,000 that would have gone to the Dispatch and Alarm Fund.
County’s 2026 personal property rates drop to zero
The formal 2026 tax ordinance sets the county’s General Fund rate at zero for both real and personal property. It keeps the Road and Bridge rate at 16.87 cents per $100 of assessed real property while setting the personal property rate at zero, and does the same for the Dispatch and Alarm Fund with a 3.24-cent real property rate and no personal property levy, according to the county’s 2026 tax ordinance.
A tax cut, not a vanishing tax bill
The decision does not erase residents’ entire property tax bills. School districts, municipalities, fire and ambulance districts and other taxing jurisdictions still set their own levies; in an April release, the county said County Government receives only about 3% of the property tax revenue collected by the County Collector, as outlined in its April tax release. Individual savings will depend on the value of a taxpayer’s personal property and the other charges remaining on the bill.
St. Charles County has kept its General Fund property tax rate at zero for more than a decade. It had also lowered the remaining personal property rates in recent years to hold county collections roughly flat, making Monday’s vote the final step in eliminating the county’s remaining personal property tax revenue.
The decision comes amid a broader Missouri debate over property tax freezes and whether tax relief should come from eliminating personal property taxes or shifting more of the burden onto real estate. Hoodline previously reported that County Executive Steve Ehlmann backed a broader real estate tax freeze while warning that uneven rules could reshuffle tax burdens around the St. Louis region.
