Boone County voters overwhelmingly passed an expansion of the senior property tax freeze in a special election Tuesday.
The freeze passed with an almost 78% of ballots being cast in favor. The vote means the senior property tax freeze will include future voter-approved increases, such as bond issues.
Anti-tax sentiment carried over to a Harrisburg School District effort to raise taxes, with of voters 56% voting against that proposal.
The senior property tax freeze, which was approved by Boone County voters in April 2024, was on the ballot for the second time in two years.
The proposal — Proposition 1 — was the only Boone County ballot initiative that all residents were eligible to vote on. Some 12.5% of registered voters cast a ballot in this election.
Kip Kendrick, the Boone County presiding commissioner, said the commission will move quickly to update the Senior Real Estate Tax Relief program to include the voter-approved bond indebtedness.
“The commission intends to ensure no disruption for the thousands of seniors already participating in the program,” Kendrick said in a text message. “The policy change will go into effect immediately upon its adoption.”
The proposed changes to the Senior Real Estate Tax Relief Program will be adopted and amended at an upcoming commission meeting, he said.
The Senior Real Estate Tax Relief Program is a program that was already in effect for homeowners who are 62 and older.
The state law that enacted the tax relief put individual counties in charge of deciding how to implement the policy. The initial proposition, which was placed on the ballot by the Boone County Commission, only included a freeze on future property taxes.
Senior Boone County residents are eligible for the tax relief program as long as they are an owner of a home and are in charge of making the property taxes on it.
“It was a huge win, I think it was a mandate from the people that they want tax relief,” former state representative Cheri Toalson Reisch said in a phone interview.
Toalson Reisch pushed to have the proposition placed on the ballot, leading an effort to gather more than 5,000 signatures to ensure voters would settle the question.
“It was a lot of work and a lot of time, and I had a lot of help, and I’m glad it was successful,” Toalson Reisch said.
Toalson Reisch expressed confidence before Tuesday that the addendum would pass, citing results from the 2024 vote.
“The one last year passed overwhelmingly,” she said.
About 8,500 parcels were covered by the senior tax freeze last year, and about 1,500 more are expected this year, Kendrick said. Property owners must request renewal annually for the freeze.
Harrisburg School District vote
In the Harrisburg School District 56% of voters opposed an initiative to increase funding through a special initiative.
The initiative had two parts: Rejecting a rollback of state sales tax receipts that go to the district and approving a tax increase of 50 cents per $100 of assessed property value. District officials had said the proposal would raise the average district taxpayer’s bill by about 7%.
District officials said the increased revenue was needed to meet additional operating expenses, including expanded programming and retaining staff.
The district has an enrollment of 606 students and an annual operating budget of $9.2 million.
