Committee adopts state provision to prorate property taxes for disaster-damaged homes

The St. Louis City Board of Aldermen's Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee moved to recommend passage of Board Bill 24, an ordinance adopting the provisions of the Revised Missouri Code (as read in committee) that allow residential property owners whose homes were severely damaged or destroyed by a natural disaster to receive a prorated reduction in property tax assessment.

Sean Ordway, interim assessor for the City of St. Louis, told the committee the adopted state provision allows proration when a property is "deemed to be uninhabitable or unoccupied," with taxes prorated based on the date the storm made the property unoccupiable. "So they would pay taxes for the first basically third of the year through April and then the storm hit in May and for the rest of the year, those taxes will be prorated away," Ordway said. The committee was told the provision applies to residential property only and does not apply to commercial properties.

Committee members asked procedural and scope questions: the ordinance does not itself require a state or federal disaster declaration. Ordway said the city will rely on an application process and case-by-case findings to determine eligibility and that the assessor's office will use building-division records, FEMA data and other documentation during review. The assessor noted a statutory deadline in the state language: the city should adopt the provision by June 1 to enable the assessment adjustment this year.

Discussion also addressed how proration interacts with new-construction incentives and local abatement programs. Ordway explained the statute contains both a new-construction provision and the disaster proration; the new-construction language affects only brand-new builds and does not replace standard local abatement programs. The committee raised questions about unintended consequences for development incentives; staff said those effects appear limited compared with existing abatement programs.

Public commenters emphasized community concerns about long-term recovery and equity. Tina Kramer, a resident who said she was displaced and has family homes in multiple wards, urged clear, narrowly defined application criteria so that residents who "want to stay there" are not pushed out and that people who were not impacted by the tornado do not improperly access the relief. Marcell Higgins of Action St. Louis urged prioritizing protections for long-standing neighborhood residents.

The committee approved Board Bill 24 with a due-pass recommendation and no objections recorded at committee. Staff and the assessor said they will work with the City's legal department and the Mayor's Office to draft application instructions and suggested the committee schedule a follow-up hearing to review the proposed application and documentation requirements before prorations are finalized.