By the morning of July 10 — the last day for St. Louis County seniors to apply for the senior property tax freeze — 20,000 fewer seniors had filled out their application than last year, according to District 3 Councilman Dennis Hancock (R-Fenton).

Over 80,000 applications were received last year, with approximately 70,500 applications approved. An exact number for this year’s applications has yet to be made public, despite The Call’s requests.

“This isn’t because thousands of seniors suddenly decided they no longer need tax relief,” Hancock stated in a press release. “It’s because they have been let down by an administration that has failed to make this process accessible and transparent.”

Hancock released a statement on July 10, calling on County Executive Sam Page to notify seniors who hadn’t renewed their property tax freeze and extend the application and renewal deadline to July 31. The deadline was not extended.

The July 10 deadline was already an extension from its original date. Initially, senior tax free applications were due June 30. That extension was granted by the St. Louis County Council, not Page, due to software and computer issues causing problems for applicants.

In his statement, Hancock also cited reduced in-person services at county offices as a potential reason that less seniors applied for the tax freeze.

Last year was the inaugural year for the county’s senior property tax freeze, and difficulties with the application process pushed the deadline back further and further then, as well. The county switched online application systems this year, requiring applicants to make new accounts.

“Protecting seniors shouldn’t be a partisan issue. It should be common sense,” Hancock stated. “We owe it to the people who built our communities to make sure they receive the tax relief they were promised — not deny it because of bureaucratic failures.”