Is your 2025 Jackson County property valuation correct? How homeowners can check
As Jackson County’s 2025 property tax assessments finish rolling out after months of confusing legal back-and-forth over the county’s valuation process, some homeowners may be skeptical of the number they get in the mail.
The Jackson County Assessor’s Office began sending property tax valuations to residents on June 5 and sent the last valuations on June 15. Notices were sent out in several batches.
“Real property,” which includes land and buildings – both residential and commercial – is reassessed biannually on odd-numbered years per state law, according to the assessor’s office. Personal property, like cars, is reassessed once a year.
County Executive Frank White Jr. and County Assessor Gail McCann Beatty announced in April that 2025 assessments wouldn’t increase by more than 15%, even if a property’s market value had increased by more than that since the last assessment cycle.
The cap on value increases came after the county challenged an order last year from the Missouri State Tax Commission that said the county did not follow proper procedure in its 2023 valuations and should roll back the valuations on 75% of its properties.
That order is held up in court, but the state issued another order last month to require that the 15% increase cap for 2025 valuations should be based off of properties’ 2022 values, before the contentious 2023 increases.
This means that the taxable value of residents’ property should theoretically not increase more than 15% from the adjusted 2022 values across the county – unless a building or other piece of property saw significant renovations, construction or upgrades in the last three years.
It also means that properties’ assessed value could – and in many cases will be – lower than it was in 2023 in Jackson County.
The state mandate doesn’t necessarily set a limit on the actual dollar amount of residents’ property taxes, which are collected in different areas based on rates set by cities, counties and other taxing jurisdictions like school districts and libraries.
How to check your property tax value
In its May order, the State Tax Commission provided a formula for how 2025 assessment values should be calculated in Jackson County, based on a combination of data from 2022 to 2024.
Per the state order, the Jackson County Assessor’s Office started with a property’s 2022 valuation, then added the value of any construction or additions made to the property.
The office then inflated the property’s value by 15%, or in some cases “by an amount that represents the true value in money of the parcels” if actual improvements were valued lower than a 15% increase.
Finally, the office added the value of any construction or improvements made in 2023 or 2024 before either applying another 15% increase or bringing the final number up to the property’s current market value.
The final number residents see on their letters could be higher than 15% above the adjusted 2022 value if some alterations were made to their property in the past three years.
Residents can check if their tax valuation is accurate by following the formula, starting with their 2022 valuation, and comparing their final property value to the one sent in the mail.
According to letters sent to residents throughout the month of June, all property valuations released by the county are considered tentative until July 1.
As of Monday, 2022 and 2025 valuations for both real and personal property can be accessed on a public web portal maintained by the county.
Concerns with values
White and Beatty previously said that the cap on value increases was meant to bring stability during ongoing legal debates around 2023 and 2024 property taxes. However, both she and White worry that capping increases “distorts” the property tax system by shifting a higher financial burden to those whose property values did not actually increase between 2024 and 2025.
As valuations began to roll in, some property owners have still been surprised by high valuations, especially business owners. The State Tax Commission’s order only pertained to residential properties, not commercial property.
Ian Davis, the owner of West Bottoms coffee shop Blip Roasters, recently told The Star that he had received a letter marking a 626% rise in his property valuation, which could translate into $20,000 of property taxes this year.
If residents find the valuation they were given is greater than 15% more than their property’s adjusted 2022 value, they can appeal until July 14, 2025. Appeals can be submitted online at jacksongov.org/boeappeals, or in person at the county Board of Equalization Office, at 1300 Washington Street in Kansas City.
The deadline to apply for most property tax exemptions in Jackson County was March 1. However, residents over the age of 62 are still eligible to freeze their rates through the county’s Senior Property Tax Credit program, ensuring they will not have to pay more than their 2024 property tax rate regardless of how their homes are valued in the future.
With the Senior Property Tax Credit Program, if participants’ taxes come out cheaper in a future year than they were in whatever year their rates are frozen at, the lower amount will become their new baseline tax value.
About 5,000 properties throughout Jackson County have also been partially or totally exempted from increased valuation. A full list of exemptions is available on request at the Jackson County Courthouse in Kansas City.
This story was originally published June 19, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
