RUDI KELLERMissouri Independent
April ballots in 97 Missouri counties will include a question asking voters if they want to cap property tax bills. Whether the caps will take effect if approved remains an open question.
Cole County Circuit Judge Christopher Limbaugh on Tuesday denied a motion asking for a summary judgment that lawmakers improperly enacted the caps during a June special session. Limbaugh on Jan. 29 denied a motion by counties that joined the case after it was filed seeking to block the April votes.
Limbaugh did not elaborate on his reasons for denying the motion for summary judgment or the preliminary injunction to block the votes.
The case will go to trial and a decision against the law would also invalidate the election results.
In the bill passed in June to allow state subsidies for new professional sports stadiums, lawmakers included provisions that would set caps for some — but not all — property tax bills in the state.
In 75 counties, voters will be asked if they want to cap increases in property tax bills at 5% or the rate of inflation, whichever is greater. In 22 counties, voters will be asked if they want to allow no year-to-year increases in their tax bills.
In the remaining 17 counties and the city of St. Louis, no cap was enacted.
The provisions include exemptions so taxes dedicated to debt payments, or new voter-approved tax rate increases, are added to the bills.
The tax base would be reset when a property changes hands.
The lawsuit was filed by two taxpayers, six school districts and a fire district alleging the property tax caps are improperly passed special laws and violate constitutional provisions requiring uniformity in taxation.
Twenty-seven counties intervened in the lawsuit after it was filed, arguing that the cost of the election is an unfunded mandate that violates the Missouri Constitution.
During arguments last week on the motion for summary judgment, attorney Jim Layton said the taxing districts were unable to find any rational basis for which counties have a 5% cap, which counties have a zero cap and which counties have no cap.
Lawmakers opted their counties into the legislation during a late-night floor session, deciding what level of relief they wanted for their area. Many of the state’s largest counties were excluded, leaving Boone, Greene, Jackson, St. Louis County and the city of St. Louis out of the law.
The designations do not line up with studies by the state tax commission that determine whether local assessments reflect actual property values, Layton said. Among the counties with the biggest difference between actual and assessed values, he noted, some have a zero percent cap and others are 5% cap.
Taxpayers in those counties would see the biggest increase in tax bills if the assessments were increased to reflect actual values.
“What it shows is that there’s no pattern here,” Layton said.
Assistant Attorney General Sean McDowell, defended the law by arguing it does have a rational basis. The General Assembly wants property tax assessments to reflect actual values but doesn’t want taxpayers to be hit with giant increases in their bills.
Many, but not all, of the counties set at zero percent increase are small, rural counties, McDowell said, while those with a 5% cap are more populous areas where some growth in tax revenue is needed to offset increasing demand for government services.
Even the exceptions to the divisions fit in that rational basis, he said.
“It doesn’t have to be based on any empirical data or evidence,” McDowell said. “It can’t be, but it doesn’t have to be.”
