Missouri tax commission orders values rolled back on 75% of Jackson County properties
The Missouri State Tax Commission ruled on Wednesday that Jackson County must roll back the assessment values on 75% of the county’s more than 300,000 property parcels due to errors by the county’s assessment department.
County Executive Frank White Jr. issued a news release calling the the ruling’s finding of irregularities “inaccurate and dangerously politicized” and said its timing was a “desperate, last-minute maneuver” tied to a pending lawsuit filed last year by Attorney General Andrew Bailey.
The tax commission said in its four-page ruling that the county violated a state law that required a physical inspection of all properties when the assessed value is raised by more than 15%. During the 2023 reassessment process, the county failed to do that on most properties, the ruling said.
Therefore, the county must cap increases at 15%, the commission said, which White said would have “disastrous consequences for our community.”
Local school districts would lose $1,500 per student, exerting a “crippling blow” on their budgets, the county said.
Bailey, a Republican, said in a statement later on Wednesday that the tax commission issued the order after “obtaining valuable information through discovery” from his lawsuit against Jackson County.
“This is a huge win for every property owner in Missouri, but especially in Jackson County,” Bailey said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Bailey filed a motion asking a judge to dismiss the lawsuit against Jackson County. That motion came one day before Bailey was scheduled to answer questions under oath about a meeting he had with Sean Smith, a Jackson County legislator and fellow Republican running for Congress.
County Assessor Gail McCann Beatty, who like White is a Democrat, said her department has been trying to follow a state law that requires real estate be valued for tax purposes at market value.
“For too long, many homes have been undervalued, forcing others to overpay,” she said in the county’s news release. “We cannot and will not allow this injustice to continue. We will do our jobs and uphold the law by assessing properties at market value, regardless of these political games.”
The county said the tax commission approved the county’s reassessment plan with which the commission now finds fault.
A hearing in the related lawsuit is set for Thursday afternoon.
The Star’s Kacen Bayless contributed to this story.
This is a developing story.
This story was originally published August 7, 2024 at 5:05 PM.
