KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Ryan was out at the polls in Cass County on Tuesday and plans to follow up with taxing districts that will be impacted on Wednesday. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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Results are coming in from elections across the Kansas City metro area.
One measure in Cass County, Missouri, passed overwhelmingly, with nearly 80% in favor of a property tax freeze.
I spent all afternoon at the polls in Raymore talking with voters about the issue and a topic I've continued to cover in the area.
"We feel that a freeze at this time is appropriate, in an uncertain economy, that is something that we can control for sure," Willie Showen told me at the polls.
A property tax freeze is exactly like it sounds — bills would be frozen at 2024 levels or at the rate at which a person entered the program.
Single-family homeowners can be eligible for the credit if they are the legal owners and are responsible for paying the bill.
Agriculture, commercial and industrial properties will not qualify for the freeze.
"For me, it's a two-for; the Commission wants this done. I'm not going to fight my commission. You bet we're going to implement it," Chris Molendorp, the County Collector of Revenue, told me last week. "But if we're gonna implement it, can I get into the 1990s?"
Voter approval of the property tax freeze would allow Molendorp's office to update its software and handle property tax bills more efficiently.
Local school districts have sounded the alarm to KSHB 41 News about the impacts freezing property taxes would have on their budgets.
"Taxation isn’t taxation, it’s an investment in your community," Raymore-Peculiar School District Superintendent Mike Slagle told me in March. "If you take that piece of investment away, you gotta fill it in the backside somehow. I just don’t see that coordinated effort right now. We need to have that."
Slagle estimates that about $6.5 million would be immediately lost in his district.
While voters may have approved the freeze on Tuesday night, it may not take effect as it's being challenged in court.
A lawsuit was filed back in September in Cole County, Missouri, by many taxing districts, including school districts, fire districts and local governments.
In January, a Cole County, Missouri, judge denied a motion that attempted to block property tax cap questions from appearing on April ballots while the lawsuit is still being decided.
97 of Missouri's 114 counties are required to put it on the ballot.
17 counties are excluded — including the largest metropolitan areas, such as Jackson, St. Louis and Greene counties.
The exclusions are unconstitutional and unfair, the lawsuit claims.
The judge's ruling back in January did not address the constitutionality of the legislation. Still, it allowed the case to move forward to a full trial, allowing the April elections to proceed.
The trial is expected to begin later this year.
Cass County Collector Molendorp explained that he will begin implementing the freeze as soon as the county clerk certifies the election results and begin administering the freeze to homestead owners come November billing.
"We have about 57,000 real estate parcels, obviously, those aren’t all single-family homesteads," Molendorp added. "Somewhere in the neighborhood of 29,000 [would be eligible]."
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