HERMANN – The Gasconade County Commission Thursday morning was urged to determine the base year for calculating a property tax credit if county voters in November approve Senate Bill 190, a tax-relief measure for homeowners 62 and older passed in 2024 by state lawmakers and signed into law.

County officials have been reluctant to select a base year in part because even if SB 190 is approved by county voters it would be superseded by Senate Bill 3, which was passed by the legislature this year and is being challenged in court by many of Missouri’s counties as being unconstitutional.

A trial on SB 3 has been held but a ruling has yet to be issued by the Circuit Court judge who heard the case.

County Assessor Julia Baker during last week’s Commission session said her office has been receiving calls from taxpayers with questions about the tax-relief measure. They want to know such things as when to apply for the credit, how long it will take to receive the credit and so forth, she told the county administrative panel. Before those and other questions can be answered, she said, the Commission should set a base year for figuring the amount of credit.

“We need to know prior to the (Nov. 3) election,” Baker said. The assessor has taken the lead among county officials in monitoring the status of the legal challenge to SB 3, which extends the property tax credit to all homeowners, regardless of age. SB 190 initially provided the tax break to homeowners 62 and older who paid into the Social Security system.

The implementation of SB 190, like SB 3, is subject to either votes held by Missouri’s counties and the City of St. Louis or adoption of an ordinance by a county’s governing board. Because 3rd-Class counties such as Gasconade County do not have ordinance-making authority, implementation of the law is subject to a countywide vote. SB 3 was approved by county voters during the August Primary Elections balloting.

According to Baker and County Collector Glenda Shockley, the other county government office that would be most affected by SB 3, told the Commission that the various counties are handling the tax-break law differently. Most, they said, appear ready to make 2024 the base year for calculating a property tax credit. As Baker noted, if the Commission sets 2027 as the base year, property owners would have to wait until 2029 to receive a credit. Using an earlier year, such as 2024, would allow the credit to be given next year, she said.

In other matters taken up during the regular weekly session of the county administrative panel, it was noted that yet another meeting was scheduled between the Road Department managers and representatives of federal and state emergency agencies regarding work that done to county road damaged in storms that hit the area in June.

Representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) are continuing the effort with Road Department Co-Supervisors Todd Troyer and Dennis Godi and office manager Emily Guerrant to document the county’s expense in damage resulting from several days of heavy rains in the early summer. The county became eligible to apply for FEMA funds after President Donald Trump issued a formal disaster declaration for Missouri that included more than 30 counties across the state hit by the storms.

The effort also has involved Gasconade County Emergency Management Director Clyde Zelch, whose office handles the paperwork required when applying for funds. Zelch was on hand for Thursday’s session, which included an announcement regarding the Gasconade County Hazard Mitigation Plan, a formal document outlining the county’s plan for avoiding such things as flood damage. As the emergency management director (EMD), Zelch is involved in this project, as well. “I got to a lot of meetings,” he told the Commission.

Many of those meetings center around Zelch’s role in preparing for an emergency that could result from a problem at the Callaway Energy Center. While the so-called blast radius from an incident at the nuclear power plant covers predominantly Callaway, Osage and Montgomery counties, there is a portion of northwest Gasconade County in the zone. That includes the area around Morrison.

The county’s Emergency Operations Center takes part in drills involving all four counties and numerous emergency-service agencies that would be activated during an actual event. Zelch has drawn high marks from federal, state and Ameren representatives during his tenure as EMD for his coordination and oversight of the drills.

Indeed, he told the Commission of a major “hostile action” drill being planned for next year involving the energy center. And, he noted, the emergency alert system used by the EOC is working well. “The system is working as advertised,” Zelch said. “I think it’s working better now than it ever has,” he added.

He pointed to a pair of tests in recent days aimed at all cell phones in the county – including those of travelers passing through the county, as well as residents. “It was the most successful, as far as cell phones,” the EMD said. And, he said, the two tests resulted in only one complaint about inconvenience caused by the calls.

When a similar alert was issued several months ago, it fell short of being successful, reaching perhaps about half the projected audience. The success of that test seemed to depend on which cell phone carrier the person was using. Based on Zelch’s comment Thursday morning about the latest test, that problem seems to have been resolved.

Regarding the alerts, which can bleed across county lines, Northern District Associate Commissioner Jim Holland, R-Hermann, suggested the EMD contact the companies developing data centers in Montgomery County about any possible funding they could provide to help support the EOC. At this point, the EOC operates on funding provided annually mostly by Ameren Missouri.

Google and Amazon, the companies developing the data centers, are pledging to invest a large amount of funding in local public-service agencies and school districts.