Christian County voters to decide fate of proposed tax cap

Christian County voters will be asked April 7 to decide the fate of a proposal to cap property tax increases on their primary residence.

School districts, fire departments and other service agencies funded heavily – and in some cases entirely – by property tax revenue have launched an information campaign. They are explaining the financial impact of the proposed freeze but not encouraging voters to either support or reject the ballot issue.

“We wanted to make sure everybody is educated on the situation, and then they can make an educated vote when they go to the ballot box,” said Zac Rantz, chief communication officer for Nixa Public Schools. “A lot of people have had questions, and they didn’t know it would impact the different entities.”

The proposal will appear on ballots under the heading Senate Bill 3 because it was part of property tax revisions included in Missouri legislation that was aimed, in part, at keeping the Kansas City Chiefs and Kansas City Royals from migrating across the state line to Kansas.

Proposed residential property tax caps and reductions inserted into the language of the bill during the legislative session have been widely described as confusing. The changes also prompted a lawsuit, which is still making its way through the courts.

“The hard part is we don’t really know the full impacts because the language is so vague,” said Andrea Swope, executive director of CC Links, which serves people with developmental disabilities, and is partially funded by property taxes. “Numbers aren’t easy to come by to determine what that full impact would be.”

Of the 114 counties in Missouri, 97 were required by SB3 – signed into law by Gov. Mike Kehoe in June 2025 – to place the measure on a ballot. The others, including Greene, were exempt or left out of the proposed limitations. State Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, opted for the exempt designation.

In 22 counties, including Christian, voters can opt to freeze increases on eligible homesteads – also referred to as a primary residence. The other 75 counties can approve a credit that caps the annual property tax increase at 5% or the rate of increase in the consumer price index.

The setting of the cap level was largely left up to the state senators from that area. State Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, selected the freeze for the counties he serves including Barry, Lawrence, McDonald and Christian.

Shortly after proposing the freeze, Moon told SBJ last year that counties want to maintain certain services paid for by taxes, as long as the taxes are not too high.

“The other side is people, and I include myself here,” Moon said in June 2025. “I talk to county commissioners and assessors, and when they put on their people hat, they want taxes to be lowered, too. They’re also feeling the effects of inflation and higher prices at the pumps.”

Christian County reported $1.6 billion in assessed valuations for real estate and $374 million in assessed valuations for personal property for 2025, according to a September 2025 report by Christian County Clerk Paula Brumfield.

There is a list of levies in effect in Christian County, which vary based on where a taxpayer lives. Here is a sample of general levies, per $100 of assessed valuation: 18 cents for the library, 4 cents for senior services and 12 cents for ambulance services.

There are also specific levies for fire districts, roads, schools and cities. The average school levy is $4.04 per $100 of assessed valuation, according to Brumfield’s 2025 report.

Part of the difficulty in determining the financial impact is that taxpayers can only claim one primary residence, or homestead, for the proposed freeze or cap. The cap or freeze does not include commercial property.

The CC Links program, created in 1986, relies heavily on property tax revenue, and received $1.4 million in 2026. Since 2010, with help from Abilities First Inc., the number of individuals served by case managers has grown from 135 to more than 715.

“Any type of freeze or flat funding would simply pause our growth, and it would create long-term service erosion in a rapidly growing community,” Swope said. “The bigger Christian County becomes, the more individuals we continue to serve, but we won’t be able to keep up with that growth.”

Jarett Metheny, chief of the Ozark Fire Protection District, said there have been meetings to try and determine the impact, but clarity has been elusive.

“It is very difficult to determine, or to get information regarding how the freeze would impact – obviously, it would have an impact – on our budget,” he said.

Metheny said 100% of the district’s budget comes from property taxes. The amount for fiscal year 2026 was $4.7 million.

He said the proposed cap, which will impact most but not all properties, will make it difficult to forecast revenues and develop a budget.

Metheny said voters in the fire protection district approved the current property tax levy, but capping it will be determined by a wider swath of voters.

“Citizens outside of the Ozark fire district are going to have a vote on how this law affects the funding of the Ozark fire district,” he said. “The citizens of Ozark could say we want our funding to be this level, whereas citizens outside could choose something different.”

The ballot question reads: “Shall the county of Christian exempt eligible taxpayers from certain property tax increases on eligible taxpayers’ primary residence above the tax liability incurred during the taxpayers’ initial credit year?”

Seven districts in Christian County – Billings, Chadwick, Clever, Nixa, Ozark, Sparta and Spokane – said passage will result in flat funding and potentially a reduction. Typically, 80% or more of a school budget is earmarked for employee salaries and benefits.

Nixa Superintendent Gearl Loden said state and federal funding make up part of the budget, but most funding is generated from local taxes. He said if there is a tighter cap on increases, it will be harder to cover costs as they rise.

“If you look at the long-term economic ramifications for the districts in the zero [increase] areas, it is going to make it hard to sustain the quality of services people are used to,” Loden said.

He said tax rates in southwest Missouri tend to be lower than most large cities, but the Nixa district continues to have above average student scores on state-mandated exams.

“I know people don’t like taxes, but when you look at how we perform versus how we are taxed, we are a great value,” he said.

School district boundaries in Missouri often bleed across city and county lines, meaning they fall under multiple tax rules.

Ozark Superintendent Lori Wilson said part of the frustration is that impact varies by county.

“The bad part is that you have counties that are our neighbors that are no-change counties and so as their assessed valuation goes up… which goes to property taxes for the schools,” she said. “They will be able to try to cover inflation, try to cover salaries.”

Ozark Board vice president James Griffin said the worst-case scenario, based on available details, is a loss of $2.4 million to cover operating costs.

“The majority of our budget goes toward teachers, so if we lose that, we can figure out some way to cut something out of there, but it has to come out of some kind of salary,” he said.