ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo.—Residents in St. Charles County will collectively save $4 million after the county council voted to zero-out the county’s portion of personal property tax bills.
The county is voluntarily forfeiting $3.4 million of revenue for the Road and Bridge fund, and $660,000 for the Dispatch and Alarm fund.
“People pay too much personal property tax, and we understand that,” stated St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann. “We just want taxpayers to understand that while the county collector collects it, county government has been getting only about 3% of the money—and the council is now reducing that down to zero. Most personal property tax money goes to school districts and fire districts, which county government has no control over and we merely pass through to those jurisdictions.”
Property taxes for the general fund, which supports financial needs of day-to-day operation, has been zeroed out concurrently since 2015. The county initially froze personal property tax revenue in 2022 but now has eliminated it.
“We’ve been doing this for years, rolling back taxes voluntarily,” Ehlmann said. “Since 2007, the tax rollbacks we’ve done have saved taxpayers $40 million.”