The Hancock amendment is a Missouri law limiting the amount of revenue local governments, including fire districts, can collect from property taxes. It was designed to protect taxpayers from excessive tax increases. The Hancock amendment requires the fire district to roll back (reduce) its tax rate so that revenues from existing property taxes can only increase the lesser of the 5% or the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which was 3.4% for 2024. This means that even if your home's value goes up, your property taxes may not necessarily increase at the same rate. The Hancock Amendment handcuffs fire district revenues and prevents us from keeping pace with inflation and rising expenses. Revenues grow at a minimal rate, and we are unable to keep up with inflation and rising expenses. Due to rollbacks required by Hancock, our current operating tax rate is 59.57 cents, whereas a decade ago, our voter-approved operating tax rate was 82.41 cents, a 27% reduction. While Missouri’s CPI has increased 22.5% in the last 10 years, the fire district’s tax revenue has only grown 8.66%. In summary, the Hancock amendment can impact property taxes in situations where property values increase but the local government's budget does not increase enough to meet the community’s needs. This can lead to the need for higher tax rates for homeowners in order to maintain essential services, such as those provided by the fire district.