NOW PROPOSING TO FREEZE BOND LEVIES
After receiving questions and complaints, Platte County is considering a couple of changes to its senior citizen property tax credit program.
Those changes would primarily focus on the matter of bonded indebtedness levies, which under the county’s current senior tax program are not frozen.
At a meeting on Monday, Dec. 15, the Platte County Commission will consider two orders that together accomplish the following:
*Increases in bonded indebtedness will no longer be excluded from the program.
*All property taxes paid on increased bonded indebtedness in 2025 by seniors approved for the program will be credited back to those taxpayers in future years.
*Annual senior tax credit program renewals will no longer be required beginning in 2026.
“For those who are wondering, what does ‘bonded indebtedness’ mean? This only applies to those seniors who were approved for the Platte County Property Tax Relief program this year. As currently structured, our program does not freeze property taxes on bond levy increases approved by voters. This is mostly only a problem this year in the Park Hill School District, but could be an issue in the future when other districts increase their levies for this purpose,” Scott Fricker, presiding commissioner, said this week.
Anyone wishing to voice their support or opposition to these proposed changes should attend the county commission session at 10 a.m. on Monday at the Platte County Administration Building, 415 Third St in Platte City.
The new proposal comes after State Rep. Mike Jones of District 12 in southern Platte County had urged Platte County commissioners to make the change.
Fricker and Jones had recently engaged in an online back and forth over the topic of whether freezing the bonded indebtedness levies is legal. Jones argued that the state legislation allows it, while Fricker had previously said attorneys the county had consulted with had advised freezing bonded debt levies could open the county up to legal action.
“Mike is just wrong on this one,” Fricker wrote at one point online when Jones was pushing the county to make the change.
The proposal on Monday’s agenda indicates Fricker’s stance has likely changed.
