Update from the Office of the Assessor Regarding Assessments of Tornado Damaged Properties

On May 30, 2025, the Board of Aldermen passed, and the Mayor signed, Board Bill #24 in which the City adopted Ch. 137.082 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, commonly referred to as the Occupancy Law. Section 9 of that statute allows the Assessor's office to prorate the assessments for property that has been made "unoccupied and uninhabitable" by a natural disaster.

The statute requires the taxpayer to provide information to the Assessor's office on forms to be provided by the Assessor to receive the prorated tax relief. The application is not yet available as the law was just passed. The Assessor's office agreed to work with the Board of Alderman and the Mayor's office on the rules for the application and we are all working to make the applications available, but it may be 30 days or more before the application is ready. We appreciate your patience and there will be plenty of time to apply before the tax bills go out at the end of the year.

For those whose properties have been damaged, but not to the point where the property is unoccupied and uninhabitable, the assessments are required by law to reflect the condition of the property as of January 1, 2025. The Assessor cannot legally change the assessments during the year due to the tornado damage unless the property has been made unoccupied and uninhabitable. For the properties that are damaged, but occupied and habitable, the Assessor's office will revisit these properties in the affected area at the end of this year; and will make determinations on the value as of January 1, 2026 for any properties that have not been repaired by that time.

We understand this is a very challenging time for property owners who have been impacted by the tornado. If you have any questions regarding how your property will be treated for property taxes in 2025 or going forward, please reach out to our office at Zasr@stlouis-mo.gov or 314-622-4185.