A plea to Gasconade County administrators to begin taking steps to implement a tax-break program for homeowners was again rejected Thursday morning with the County Commission continuing to take a wait-and-see position on which program might be used to grant tax credits.

County Assessor Julia Baker, who has headed the county’s effort to monitor the status of Senate Bill 3 – the law that freezes all qualifying homeowners’ assessed value on their primary residences – as it works its way through a legal challenge brought by a consortium of Missouri counties. Gasconade County is among the counties challenging the tax-break law as being unconstitutional.

A trial was held several weeks ago on SB 3, but the circuit judge who heard the case as of the end of last week has yet to issue a ruling. Whatever the judge’s ruling, it’s likely to appealed by the losing side.

SB 3 was approved in this year’s session of the Missouri General Assembly, a part of a larger law aimed at keeping the Kansas City Chiefs on the Missouri side of Kansas City. However, the team’s ownership decided after the measure was approved to move across the border into Johnson County, Kansas.

Gasconade County voters in April approved putting SB 3 in place. Next month, they will decide the fate of SB 190, which grants the tax break to homeowners 62 and older.

Baker told the commission she had talked with her counterparts in several other counties about their plans to implement a tax-break program, either SB 3 or SB 190. “Those conversations were interesting,” Baker said, noting that she talked with more than 30 of the state’s 114 counties. She added that most of those had decided to use 2024 as the base year for calculating a homeowner’s credit.

At Thursday’s commission session, Baker again pointed out need by her office and the Collector’s Office for the commission to set a base year for determining the amount of credit a homeowner was entitled to.

“Our biggest roadblock is: What is our base year?” she said.

But Gasconade County R-1 Superintendent Geoff Neill, who attended the commission session held at Owensville City Hall, said using 2024 would be costly for his district.

“Going back to 2024 will be damaging to us,” he said.

He suggested the best thing would be to have the year the homeowner applies for the credit as the base year. If upheld, SB 3 provisions would become effective next year. Using that year as the base year would mean the credits wouldn’t be given until 2029, Baker said. If this year were selected as the base year, the credits could be given in 2027, she said.

“I’m fine with ‘26 as the base,” said Northern District Associate Commissioner Jim Holland, R-Hermann.

But Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, was not. “I’m not ready to make a decision,” he said.

“When would you like to have an answer on this?” Southern District Associate Commissioner Ron Hardecke, R-Owensville, asked Baker.

“Soon,” she replied.

Despite Baker’s eagerness to begin preparing for what is widely believed will be a tax-break program, Schulte is prepared to wait until the legal challenge on SB 3 plays out and county voters have their say next month on SB 190.

In the meantime, Baker said she would consult Missouri Association of Counties legal counsel Travis Elliott this week for advice on preparing for a tax-break program.

In other matters taken up during last week’s commission session, County Treasurer Mike Feagan reported that his office has allocated $500 to the Rape & Crisis Center in Jefferson City. That center for domestic violence victims served seven Gasconade County residents in the past year, he said.

In recent years, the county has split $500 between the Jefferson City organization and a similar domestic violence center in Warren County. However, Feagan said, the Warren County organization has not requested funds from Gasconade County in the last two years.

The money for domestic violence centers is generated by a domestic violence fee that is applied to cases filed in Circuit Court.

Hardecke updated the other commissioners on his effort to obtain an agreement with Franklin County regarding the maintenance of County Line Road. In the past, the road was kept up by both counties’ road departments. The effort to officially have one of the counties maintain the road has stalled. Hardecke most recently talked with Franklin County’s top administrator in a bid to reach an agreement. “I’ve talked with (Presiding Commissioner) Dave Schatz and he’s going to work on it,” Hardecke said.