COLUMBIA, MO (KMIZ)

A term-limited state lawmaker running for a seat on the Boone County Commission said Friday she submitted nearly 5,000 petitions to the county clerk to place a measure that freezes senior citizen property taxes on the 2025 ballot.

Cheri Toalson Reisch, a Republican who is term-limited out of her seat in the Missouri House after eight years, said in a news release that the all-democratic commission put a limited measure on the ballot. The petition filed Friday is a complete property tax freeze for all county seniors, Reisch said.

“During the week of Memorial Day in May 2024, the commission voted to approve a partial freeze, knowing that if they waited until after August 28, the new law would mandate a full freeze,” Reisch claims in the release.

Boone County Clerk Brianna Lennon says her office hasn’t had time to count signatures yet but will begin work on verifying they are from registered voters who live in Boone County. The number of valid signatures must equal at least 5% of the votes cast in the 2020 gubernatorial election.

If the signatures cross that threshold, Lennon said her office forwards that information to the county commission, which is then responsible for putting the measure on the ballot. The measure could not appear on a ballot until 2025.

Reisch is running against 12-year incumbent Janet Thompson to represent the County Commission’s Northern District in the Nov. 5 election.