COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH
OVERSIGHT DIVISION
FISCAL NOTE
L.R. No.:3691S.03I Bill No.:SB 879 Subject:Fire Protection; Cities, Towns, and Villages; Saint Louis County; Taxation and
Revenue - Sales and Use; Taxation and Revenue - Property
Type:Original Date:February 23, 2024Bill Summary:This proposal creates provisions relating to fire protection services.
FISCAL SUMMARY
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON GENERAL REVENUE FUNDFUND AFFECTEDFY 2025FY 2026FY 2027General Revenue*$0$0 or Unknown$0 or UnknownTotal Estimated Net
Effect on General
Revenue $0$0 or Unknown$0 or Unknown
*Oversight assumes the potential unknown amount of revenue (Department of Revenue’s 1%
collection fee on sales tax – if collected by DOR) from this proposal will not reach the $250,000
threshold.
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON OTHER STATE FUNDSFUND AFFECTEDFY 2025FY 2026FY 2027Total Estimated Net
Effect on Other State
Funds $0$0$0
Numbers within parentheses: () indicate costs or losses. L.R. No. 3691S.03I
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ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON FEDERAL FUNDSFUND AFFECTEDFY 2025FY 2026FY 2027Total Estimated Net
Effect on All Federal
Funds $0$0$0
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON FULL TIME EQUIVALENT (FTE)FUND AFFECTEDFY 2025FY 2026FY 2027Total Estimated Net
Effect on FTE 000
☐ Estimated Net Effect (expenditures or reduced revenues) expected to exceed $250,000 in any
of the three fiscal years after implementation of the act or at full implementation of the act.
☐ Estimated Net Effect (savings or increased revenues) expected to exceed $250,000 in any of
the three fiscal years after implementation of the act or at full implementation of the act.
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON LOCAL FUNDSFUND AFFECTEDFY 2025FY 2026FY 2027Local Government$0$0 or Unknown$0 or Unknown L.R. No. 3691S.03I
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FISCAL ANALYSIS
ASSUMPTION
§321.905 – Fire Protection Districts in St. Louis County
Officials from the Department of Revenue (DOR) assume this proposal allows any city within
St. Louis County to adopt two new taxes. All of the following cities could potentially enact this:
AfftonConcordGrantwoodNormandySycamore Hills
AllentonCool ValleyGreen ParkNorthwoods
Town and
CountryBallwin
Country Club
HillsGreendaleNorwood CourtTwin OaksBella Villa
Country Life
AcresGroverOaklandUniversity City
Bellefontaine
NeighborsCrestwoodHanley HillsOakvilleUplands Park
City of Bellerive
AcresCreve CoeurHazelwoodOld JamestownValley ParkBel-Nor
Crystal Lake
ParkHillsdaleOlivetteVelda CityBel-RidgeDellwoodHuntleighOverland
Velda Village
Hills
BerkeleyDes PeresJenningsPagedaleVinita ParkBeverly HillsEdmundsonKinlochPasadena HillsVinita TerraceBlack JackEllisvilleKirkwoodPasadena ParkWarson WoodsBreckenridge HillsEurekaLaduePine LawnWebster Groves
BrentwoodFentonLakeshire
Richmond
HeightsWellston
BridgetonFergusonLemayRiverviewWestwoodCalverton ParkFlordell HillsMackenzieRock HillWilbur ParkCastle PointFlorissantManchesterSappingtonWildwoodChampFrontenacMaplewoodShrewsburyWinchester
CharlackGlasgow VillageMarlboroughSpanish Lake
Woodson
TerraceChesterfieldGlen Echo Park
Maryland
HeightsSt. Ann
Clarkson ValleyGlencoeMehlvilleSt. John ClaytonGlendaleMoline AcresSunset Hills L.R. No. 3691S.03I
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This proposal allows a city to create a tax on all real property and then a sales tax in order to
fund fire protection services. In order to enact the property tax, the citizens of the district must
adopt the tax at an election. They are allowed to collect up to $0.25 cents per $100 assessed
valuation.
If the city adopts the property tax they can then go back to their voters to implement a sales tax.
This sales tax can be up to one half of one percent on all sales subject to taxation under Chapter
144. This sales tax must also be adopted by the voters at another election.
Both the property tax and sales tax are to be used to provide fire protection service.
This proposal states the sales tax is to be used to reduce the property tax collected. The fire
protection district is to calculate the amount of sales tax, property tax collected and their
expenses. Using the sales tax calculation, they are to lower the property tax rate by the amount
generated under the sales tax.
This proposal does not require that DOR collect the sales tax on behalf of the city or fire
protection district. If DOR would be required to collect the sales tax, DOR would retain 1% of
the amount of sales tax collected for reimbursement of our services. DOR does not collect
property. It appears the cities will be responsible for the collection and estimating the impact.
DOR is unable to determine which if any of the cities would want to adopt these 2 taxes.
Oversight notes subsection 5 of the proposal does not clarify if DOR will be responsible for
collecting the sales tax on behalf of the city and/or fire protection district should the proposal be
voted on and approved by the voters. If DOR is responsible, then a 1% collection fee based off of
the sales tax would be collected. Therefore, Oversight will reflect a $0 (no ballot issue/approval)
or unknown amount of revenue to General Revenue as a direct fiscal impact for this proposal.
Oversight also assumes this proposal is permissive in nature and would have no local fiscal
impact without the action by the governing body of municipalities within St. Louis County and
the approval by the majority of voters within those municipalities of St. Louis County to levy
and collect taxes on real property and/or sales tax to provide funding for fire protection services.
Therefore, Oversight will reflect a $0 (no ballot issue/approval) or unknown amount of revenue
to the municipalities of St. Louis County as a direct fiscal impact for this proposal.
Officials from the Office of Administration - Budget and Planning, the St. Louis County
Board of Elections and the State Tax Commission each assume the proposal will have no fiscal
impact on their respective organizations. Oversight does not have any information to the
contrary. Therefore, Oversight will reflect a zero impact in the fiscal note for these agencies.
Officials from the Office of the Secretary of State (SOS) note many bills considered by the
General Assembly include provisions allowing or requiring agencies to submit rules and L.R. No. 3691S.03I
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regulations to implement the act. The SOS is provided with core funding to handle a certain
amount of normal activity resulting from each year's legislative session. The fiscal impact for
this fiscal note to the SOS for Administrative Rules is less than $5,000. The SOS recognizes that
this is a small amount and does not expect that additional funding would be required to meet
these costs. However, the SOS also recognizes that many such bills may be passed by the
General Assembly in a given year and that collectively the costs may be in excess of what the
office can sustain with its core budget. Therefore, the SOS reserves the right to request funding
for the cost of supporting administrative rules requirements should the need arise based on a
review of the finally approved bills signed by the governor.
Oversight only reflects the responses received from state agencies and political subdivisions;
however, other cities, counties and fire protection districts were requested to respond to this
proposed legislation but did not. A listing of political subdivisions included in the Missouri
Legislative Information System (MOLIS) database is available upon request.
FISCAL IMPACT – State GovernmentFY 2025
(10 Mo.)
FY 2026FY 2027GENERAL REVENUERevenue – DOR – 1% collection fee on
sales tax revenue §321.905$0
$0 or
Unknown
$0 or
Unknown
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON
GENERAL REVENUE$0
$0 or
Unknown
$0 or
Unknown
FISCAL IMPACT – Local GovernmentFY 2025
(10 Mo.)
FY 2026FY 2027MUNICIPALITIES OF ST. LOUIS
COUNTY
Revenue – potential increase in taxes
collected on property and sales upon
voter approval §321.905$0
$0 or
Unknown
$0 or
Unknown
ESTIMATED NET EFFECT ON
MUNICIPALITIES OF ST. LOUIS
COUNTY FUNDS$0
$0 or
Unknown
$0 or
Unknown
FISCAL IMPACT – Small Business
If the voters approve the levy and collection of taxes on real property and/or sales tax, small
businesses could be impacted from this proposal. L.R. No. 3691S.03I
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FISCAL DESCRIPTION
This act authorizes municipalities located within St. Louis County to impose a property tax to
provide fire protection services, with such tax not to exceed $0.25 per $100 assessed valuation.
This act also authorizes fire protection districts and municipalities located within St. Louis
County to impose a sales tax of up to 0.5% to provide fire protection services. A fire protection
district or municipality imposing a sales tax authorized by this act shall reduce any property tax
levy imposed by such district or municipality for the purposes of providing fire protection
services such that the revenue generated by such property tax levy is offset in an amount equal to
one hundred percent of the amount of revenue generated by the sales tax imposed pursuant to
this act.
This legislation is not federally mandated, would not duplicate any other program and would not
require additional capital improvements or rental space.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Department of Revenue
Office of Administration - Budget and Planning
St. Louis County Board of Elections
State Tax Commission
Office of the Secretary of State
Julie MorffRoss StropeDirectorAssistant DirectorFebruary 23, 2024February 23, 2024