Anyone 62 and over in Greene County who wishes to apply or re-apply for the senior tax credit needs to do so by June 30. Greene County Collector Allen Icet held a press conference Monday morning to help spread the word.
The Greene County Commission passed an ordinance last year allowing those 62 and over to apply to have their real estate taxes frozen going forward, he said, and many did.
“In 2024, we had over 15,000 applications for the initial program,” he said. “This year, we’ve had a little over 4,000 applications, first-time applicants.”
Individuals must re-apply for the tax credit every year. And most of those who applied last year in Greene County have re-applied, but 5% -- or a few hundred people -- still needs to do so.
Icet said, to be eligible, you must be 62 (only one spouse needs to be age-eligible), and you must own and live at the home you list on the application.
Taxes in the year going forward are what will be frozen, according to Icet, "so for the people who applied at 2024, that 15,000, they will see a credit on their statement that shows what their 2025 taxes are, the credit taking them back to the 2024."
You can apply or re-apply by mail, email or in person at the Historic Greene County Courthouse, Room 110, by June 30. But he urged people to email or walk in the application so they don’t miss the deadline.
“My office has to have your application in hand,” he said.
If you go to greenecountymo.gov/collector and click on “senior credit,” you’ll find a list of frequently asked questions such as “how do I apply or renew for the Senior Tax Credit?” and “I am age-eligible (62) but my spouse (or co-tenant) is not. What now?”
Senate Bill 190, which allowed counties to freeze property tax rates for seniors, gave a lot of flexibility to counties that choose to move forward, according to Icet. Because of that, counties may have different application deadlines. He said, of the state’s 114 counties, around 30 have actually implemented the freezes or are in the process of doing so.
Icet said he won’t know the impact on taxing entities until later this year. Some people might choose not to apply so schools, fire districts and library districts don’t lose money. He said one individual told him she wasn’t going to apply because she didn’t need the credit.
But he pointed out “even if, let’s say, there’s 75,000 parcels, residences in Greene County, well, that’s 20%, but the other 80% aren’t going to get the credit. And their taxes, real estate taxes are going to go up significantly. Because of that, according to Icet, even though taxing entities won’t get as much revenue as they would have before the freezes, they’re not losing money.
It’s been a “pretty significant” process, he said, for the Greene County Collector’s Office to implement the senior tax credit program. Early on, he said, they required people who were applying to show their warranty deed, and most people didn’t know what that was. They’d have to go to the Greene County Recorder’s Office to get it. Now, his office can look it up, and he said, things are running smoothly.
Lacey Williams, who’s with the Collector’s Office and who runs the program, said, “we now operate 100% digitally, and so we’re going to have a more stable solution for those records and being able to view them on demand but also able to access things like ownership and taxes paid information and things like that, and it’s really improved our processes a lot.”
