Missouri Revised Statutes Title VI. County, Township and Political Subdivision Government § 48.030. Change in classification, how, when effective

1. No county shall move from a lower class to a higher class or from a higher class to a lower class until the assessed valuation of the county is such as to place it in the other class for five successive years and until the change has become effective as provided for in this section.

2. No second class county shall become a third class county until the assessed valuation of the county is such as to place it in the third class for at least five successive years.

3. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 1 of this section, a county may become a first class county at any time after the assessed valuation of the county is such as to be a first class county and the governing body of the county elects to change classifications. The effective date of such change of classification shall be in accordance with the provisions of this section.

4. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 1 of this section, any county of the third classification without a township form of government and with more than thirty-eight thousand nine hundred but fewer than thirty-nine thousand inhabitants may become a second class county at any time after the assessed valuation of the county is such as to be a second class county and the governing body of the county elects to change classifications. The effective date of such change of classification shall be at the beginning of the county fiscal year following the election by the governing body of the county.

5. Except as provided in subsection 4 of this section, the change from one classification to another shall become effective at the beginning of the county fiscal year following the next general election after the certification by the state equalizing agency for the required number of successive years that the county possesses an assessed valuation placing it in another class. If a general election is held between the date of the certification and the end of the current fiscal year, the change of classification shall not become effective until the beginning of the county fiscal year following the next succeeding general election.