St. Charles County delivered a substantial defeat of Proposition RT, a property tax freeze, last Tuesday. Though the measure failed locally by a significant 59% to 41%, other Missouri counties saw the opposite.
Jefferson, Franklin, Warren, and Lincoln counties all approved similar tax credit proposals. The measure passed in Jefferson County by 61% and in Franklin County by 69%.
Leading up to Election Day, Prop RT and other like tax measures garnered organized opposition from school districts and other groups whose services rely on property taxes. The opposition continues for school districts such as the Meramec Valley R-III School District, whose students reside in portions of Franklin County, Jefferson County, and St. Louis County.
“It was up to each county and those counties’ legislators to determine how that proposition would affect each of their counties individually,” said Julie Scott, President of the Wentzville R-IV School District Board of Education. “So across the state, every county could have done something different.”
Meramec Valley, among other school districts, is suing the state over the unequal application of the measure across the different counties. Senate Bill 3, passed by the Missouri General Assembly last summer, forced the vote on Prop RT or a similar measure in 97 of Missouri’s 114 counties. In 75 counties, passage of the measure meant that property taxes could not increase by more than 5%. In 22 counties, including St. Charles County, passage of the measure meant that property taxes would freeze at the 2024 rate. 17 counties, including St. Louis County, did not vote on a similar proposal and will continue analyzing property taxes under Missouri state law.
It is unclear whether and when tax relief for homeowners will take place in the counties where the measure was passed. In Jefferson County, the tax freeze will not take effect for two years due to a January vote by the Jefferson County Council to pause implementation of the tax credit until 2028. For other counties, the proposal may not be enacted at all because of the battle between school districts and the state over its legality. Whether homeowners will have to apply for the tax credit, like how Missouri seniors have had to do for their own property tax freeze, authorized in 2023, is also ambiguous.
If Prop RT had passed in St. Charles County, the Wentzville R-IV School District estimated that $38 million would be lost by 2030. WSD predicted that in-district homeowners would see a total of $1,312 in savings by 2030 as a result of Prop RT. The Francis Howell R-III School District approximated an annual $20 million loss within five years of Prop RT’s passage. The Developmental Disabilities Resource Board of St. Charles County anticipated a $4 million reduction in revenue used for disability services over the next five years with the passage of Prop RT.
These losses would have been in addition to revenue loss following the Missouri senior tax freeze. Francis Howell saw a $1,033,387 revenue loss in 2025. The Orchard Farm School District saw a $91,347 loss, while the Fort Zumwalt School District saw a $789,040 loss.
Local property taxes account for 43% of WSD’s operating revenue. Much of the revenue for other public services also relies heavily on property taxes. The St. Charles County-City Library sees 97% of its revenue from property taxes.
“There would be the possibility of, you know, having to pay to play sports or do activities that are typically included as part of being a public school student and as part of your public school experience,” Scott said. “There would have been a lot that would have to change.”
“It would have required some pretty drastic cuts, and eventually would have led to higher class sizes and a reduction in the workforce,” said Brian Bishop, Superintendent of the Wentzville R-IV School District.
For school districts like Wentzville and Francis Howell, the results of Tuesday’s elections are a victory for public services alongside voter turnout.
“What was additionally encouraging is that voter turnout was extremely high, where even the Fort Zumwalt School District experienced a doubling of their previous years of voter turnout,” said Steven Blair, President of the Francis Howell R-III School District Board of Education.
For school districts like Meramec Valley, the future is uncertain as they project a $500,000 loss next year.
“Everything is getting more expensive,” Scott said. “Nothing is going back to 2024 prices.”
The tax relief program outlined by Prop RT and other similar measures has no expiration date. No alternative funding programs have been identified for school districts impacted by frozen property taxes.
