HERMANN – The format and location of a July 10 public meeting that was to focus on Amendment 5 have evolved into a discussion and meet-the-candidates gathering.

Dennis Granahl, founder and chief executive officer of Mo Tax Relief Now, noted that the Friday, July 10, gathering will be at First State Community Bank in Owensville. What was initially envisioned as a town hall forum on Amendment 5 at Swiss Evangelical & Reform Church will now be an informational meeting on the amendment that seeks to eliminate the Missouri state income tax and on the just-started petition drive in Gasconade County aimed at putting Senate Bill 190 on the ballot.

SB 190 is a measure adopted two years ago by the Missouri General Assembly and signed into law aimed at providing a property tax break for homeowners 62 and older who have paid into the Social Security system. That measure would freeze property assessments for those homeowners when they applied as they reached their 62nd birthday. However, SB 190 was not acted on by most county governments in Missouri and it was superceded last year by SB 3, which extended the property tax break to all homeowners 62 and older. The law, which was put on the April ballot by some Missouri counties but not others, would freeze property assessments at their 2024 amount.

Gasconade County voters approved SB 3 in the April vote. SB 3 is being challenged in court and has a trial date of July 24 in Jefferson City.

County government officials in Gasconade County and across the state are concerned that SB 3 will result in a substantial loss of revenue. Indeed, an analysis of the measure’s potential impact by Gasconade County Assessor Julia Baker showed that the various property tax-dependent agencies in the county could lose more than $600,000 if all eligible homeowners receive the tax break. The biggest loss of revenue would be felt by the Gasconade County R-1 and R-2 school districts.

In fact, R-1 Superintendent Geoff Neill, planning for the possible affirmation of SB 3 by the courts and considering the projected education funding shortfall from state government, presented for the first time in his career as an administrator a deficit budget — projected revenue compared with projected expenses for the school year — to his board of directors. The district’s overall budget is balanced, as required by the Missouri Constitution, but that is achieved by tapping into the money on hand at the July 1 start of the next fiscal year.

Amendment 5, which is on the August Primary Elections ballot, would reduce Missouri’s individual income tax from the current 4.7 percent to 0 percent in a phased-in manner. There is no plan now in place to make up for that loss of revenue, which one financial expert in state government projected to be about $9 billion. The state’s budget for Fiscal Year 2027 is about $50 billion.

But Granahl earlier told the Gasconade County Republican that he believes the revenue lost through elimination of income tax can be made up with a sales tax on goods and professional services now not subject to a sales tax.

The petition drive that is being mounted it aimed at putting SB 190 on the ballot in Gasconade County — and presumably statewide — as a backup measure in case SB 3 is ruled unconstitutional by the courts. Once SB 3 was adopted by the legislature, the focus moved away from SB 190, which would involve a more-complicated method of figuring property taxes for the various taxing entities.

To be placed on the ballot in Gasconade County, petitions need to have between 800 and 900 valid signatures representing 10 percent of the total number of votes cast in the county in the most recent gubernatorial election.

County Clerk Lesa Lietzow said recently the number of votes cast in the last gubernatorial election was about 8,000.

The July 10 meeting at First State Community Bank is set for 6 p.m.