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The revenue department recently became aware of “external events being promoted by outside organizations” to help seniors with their applications, revenue director Tony Smee to the County Council on Wednesday.

“We strongly discourage the public from participating in any event not approved by ӣ����Ƶ County because of concerns with the safety and security of our seniors, and the lack of approved protocols,” Smee wrote.

Smee said he’s concerned about people outside the county handling sensitive identification and property documents required for the application. The county accepts driver’s licenses, birth certificates and other private documents as proof.

Doug Moore, a spokesman for County Executive Sam Page, said he didn’t know of any wrongdoing, just that some have either held or want to hold events not sponsored by the county, “and we are discouraging that.”

Moore did not immediately know if outside events have already occurred, who is running them, how many seniors applied via such events, or how the county learned of the issue.

County Council Chair Shalonda Webb, who asked for Smee’s letter to be put on the agenda for Tuesday’s council meeting, said her legislative assistant had heard about such an event in north ӣ����Ƶ County, helping residents apply for the freeze, and that raised alarm bells.

Webb called Smee, and asked if the revenue department was doing such events. He said no, and she asked him to send the formal letter.

Dennis Ganahl, who worked on the state legislation that enabled ӣ����Ƶ County’s tax freeze program, said he hadn’t heard of any such events.

He encouraged people to go to one of the county’s offices if they need help.

Ganahl made an appointment at the west ӣ����Ƶ County office and applied there. It took about 20 minutes.

“Go to the county,” Ganahl said. “They’re very helpful, and they can pull up all the (property) records.”

“I would really discourage people from going to outside sources,” he added.

Smee, in his letter to county staff and the County Council, said the county has approved no “external tax credit signup events.”

“We urge residents to utilize the four County locations the Department of Revenue has set up to assist seniors with in-person signup,” he wrote.

The county offers such assistance 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays at the following locations:

• County government headquarters: 41 South Central Avenue, Clayton.
• Northwest Crossing: 715 Northwest Plaza Drive, St. Ann.
• South County: 4546 Lemay Ferry Road, ӣ����Ƶ.
• West County: 74 Clarkson Wilson Center, Chesterfield.

Smee said county officials understand that some seniors are homebound, have no internet, and no friends or family who can help them apply in-person or online.

The county is working on a way to provide enrollment assistance to people who meet those three criteria, but that type of help might not be available until next year.

Page is expected to provide more information about the external sign-up events at a news conference Sunday.

An online application is available on the county’s website, .

The deadline to apply is June 30, 2025.