Property tax uproar fuels push for question on Jackson County ballot. But is it too late?
Jackson County’s last elected director of property assessment left office more than a half century ago, when voters adopted a new county charter that put assessment and several other administrative offices under the control of a newly elected county executive.
Might today’s voters want to go back to the old system?
Frank White Jr., the current county executive, has reservations about a measure the county legislature approved on Monday that would give voters a chance to decide whether to make the assessor an elected position once again.
White has not said that he will definitely block the ordinance that would put the question on the November ballot. But he made his displeasure with it fairly clear in a written statement.
“The recent passage of an ordinance to place the question of an elected Assessor on the November ballot raises significant concerns,” White said.
Chief among them, he said, is that the proposed ballot language contains no requirement that an elected assessor have any expertise for setting values for tax purposes on real estate or personal property.
“A qualified and experienced Assessor is essential for accurate and fair property assessments in Jackson County,” he said. “The current appointment process ensures this by requiring candidates to hold at least a bachelor’s degree, be certified as an appraiser in Missouri, and have extensive experience in property assessment…
“Unlike the current system, the proposed charter amendment includes no qualifications for the role. This opens the door for the position to be filled based on popularity rather than expertise, jeopardizing the quality and fairness of assessments that our residents rely on.”
The push for reform grew out of concerns about the county’s reassessment process last year that saw large numbers of homeowners hit with double-digit percentage increases in their real estate assessments.
Some worry they will be taxed out of their homes. The State Tax Commission issued an order recently calling for a rollback in assessments due to alleged shortcomings in how values were set for taxing purposes.
But White and assessment director Gail McCann Beatty say the reassessment was done properly and in furtherance of a state law that requires assessors to set property assessments as close as possible to actual market value.
“As you know, property values in Jackson County have been significantly undervalued for decades,” Beatty told reporters at a news conference last week. “Our priority has been focused on correcting these long standing inequities.”
At that same news conference, County Counselor Bryan Covinsky said he and representatives of local taxing districts are determining how best to challenge the order in court.
Time running out
White’s views on the issue matter. He has the power by virtue of the county charter and the election calendar whether the question of electing the assessor will go to the voters or not.
The legislature passed the ordinance by a 5-4 vote. But should White decide to veto, it would take take six votes to override.
Then again, those numbers don’t matter much when his other option would be to do nothing at all, if keeping it off the ballot was his desire. The deadline for putting something before voters in the general election is next Tuesday, Aug. 27.
Under the county charter, the county executive has 10 days to issue a veto, or it becomes law. That gives White until Aug. 29, which is two days after the ballot deadline.
Whatever happens, it’s an issue that is likely to return next year, if it doesn’t make it to the ballot this time. What’s more, it has bipartisan support.
White is a Democrat as is Beatty, a former state representative.
But so is county legislator, Manny Abarca, who introduced the local ballot measure ordinance that was approved Monday.
The ordinance had the backing of three other Democratic colleagues and Republican legislator Sean Smith, who has been urging qualified voters to sign his change.org petition in support of having a vote.
“County Administration has not taken responsibility for the tax debacle in 2023, and therefore should not have the responsibility of appointing this position,” Smith said in support of the petition.
Republican lawmakers in Jefferson City have since early this year been at work trying to force a statewide vote on the matter, but have been unsuccessful so far.
Attempt to combat corruption
Within Missouri, the city of St. Louis and Jackson County are alone in having county assessors who are appointed rather than elected.
Jackson County opened the way for that by approving a home-rule charter in November 1970 that overhauled almost all of county government.
The charter, which took effect in 1973, ended a many decades-old system whereby a three-member county commission – it was officially called the county “court” – oversaw county government.
Well, most of county government, anyway. The presiding judge and the court’s other two elected members did not have absolute control. Almost every department in county government had an elected chief officer who ran their own operation.
In addition to choosing the assessor, voters elected the coroner, the recorder of deeds, the highway engineer, the tax collector, the county clerk, clerk of the circuit court, public administrator and the treasurer.
All those elected offices were done away with when the charter was approved, creating the county legislature in place of the county court and creating the new office of county executive. The sheriff and prosecutor are the only other elected county officials.
Reformers argued that having the county executive choose administrators on the basis of merit rather than political connections would reduce costs and limit corruption.
Elected coroners, for instance, would send the dead to select funeral homes, and somne department heads would pad their payrolls with cronies. And prior to the charter change, Jackson County properties hadn’t been reassessed in more than 30 years.
The first county executive, George Lehr, ordered one done. Current state law now requires that reassessments be done every other year in every county.
Should Jackson County go back to electing assessors, it would not be the first time that has happened in Missouri. Voters in St. Louis County (separate from the city) decided to begin electing their assessor once again in 2011, ending a 40-year span in which the assessor was appointed by the St. Louis County executive.
The change was prompted by many of the same issues and concerns behind the current discussion in Jackson County.
A former state legislator, Democrat Jake Zimmerman ran for the job in 2011 promising to end the kind of “drive-by” method of real estate assessments that are the source of the complaints behind the current tax commission order in Jackson County.
He won and has been re-elected three times.
This story was originally published August 20, 2024 at 4:41 PM.
