Independence school districts sue Jackson County over proposed tax ‘clawbacks’
Twelve Jackson County school districts sent an open letter to Interim Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota in April, threatening legal action if he did not re-examine recent tax credit policies that relied on “clawing back” money already spent by the districts years ago.
Now, two of those districts have made good on their word.
The Independence and Fort Osage school districts filed a lawsuit against LeVota and Jackson County Collector Scott Lakin, along with Jackson County Clerk Mary Jo Spino, on June 16, according to court records.
“To operate a School District for the benefit of the public, it is important for the School Districts to plan and budget in advance,” the lawsuit reads, “and that is done through having a grasp of their revenue sources, which include revenues collected and disbursed by Jackson County.”
The lawsuit argues that LeVota acted beyond the power of his position in proposing and initiating the two tax credit policies that would rely on clawbacks from school budgets. Along with seeking a permanent end to the proposed tax policy, it asks the Jackson County circuit court system to issue a preliminary injunction on both counts.
This would stop the county from recouping any money from the two school districts while the case makes its way through litigation. The lawsuit seeks both to stop the tax programs in their tracks and to win the districts “such additional relief as [Jackson County circuit court] deems appropriate.”
“The Defendant County has publicly stated an intention to continue this unlawful practice despite notice that it has no legal authority to do so,” the lawsuit reads.
At a Thursday afternoon press conference, LeVota accused the two districts of “thumbing their noses against the taxpayers.” He characterized the lawsuit as an attempt to prevent Jackson County taxpayers from receiving financial relief.
“This is bizarro world,” LeVota said. “They acknowledge taxpayers are wrongly overcharged… but want to prohibit me from getting relief to the taxpayers.”
LeVota said that the county has not yet been formally served with the lawsuit, but that he’s particularly “appalled” by ISD’s “position” in the lawsuit, as a “product of the Independence School District” himself.
“I look forward to answering this action in front of the court because we are on the right side,” LeVota said. “We are on the side of making taxpayers whole.”
Tax policy problems
The lawsuit centers around a pair of tax policies first introduced by LeVota in late 2025, after his appointment to a 14-month term as Interim County Executive in October 2025.
LeVota has sought to retroactively create artificial 15% caps on how much the assessed value of commercial properties in Jackson County increased during the 2025 property tax cycle. To achieve this, he previously said, the county manually reviewed and adjusted the 2025 values of hundreds of commercial properties that had been valued under $5 million in 2023.
LeVota is also attempting to create a similar retroactive 15% cap on how much residential property values increased in 2023. To this end, LeVota announced future tax credits for those who paid out taxes for increases above 15%, to be issued as credits on tax bills from 2027 to 2029.
The lawsuit notes that LeVota’s credit plan relies directly on pulling money back that had already been distributed to school districts — the same criticism identified by the dozen school districts behind the open letter.
The letter initially alleged that the policies will cost the 12 districts just over $196 million collectively. It notes that districts do not have any avenue to go back and alter their already-spent 2023-2025 budgets to compensate for the loss.
The suit indicates that Jackson County has already withheld about $1.2 million in 2025 property tax payments from the Independence School District in order to create the commercial value cap. The county is currently projected to withhold $1.3 million from the Fort Osage School District this year for the same reason, the lawsuit reads.
Meanwhile, the suit reads, the three years of property tax credits would rely on the county taking back about $15.6 million from the Independence School District, and about $7 million from Fort Osage.
“Immediate and irreparable injury, loss, and damage will result in the absence of relief in that the School Districts rely on the County’s disbursement of revenue from property tax payments to support their operations,” the lawsuit reads.
Impacts in Independence
Both the Independence and Fort Osage school districts have shared financial concerns in the past and serve large proportions of students living at or below the poverty line.
According to state data, about 71% of ISD students and 53% of Fort Osage students qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
In a statement issued Thursday, the Fort Osage School District said that it empathizes with property owners and taxpayers but continues to question Jackson County’s “legal processes surrounding assessments, appeals and related county actions.” Losing millions in funding with little warning would directly and quickly impact class sizes, staff recruitment and retention and student programming, the district wrote.
“Our priority is, and always will be, the students of Fort Osage, and we cannot stand by when decisions outside the established legal framework jeopardize the resources they depend on every day,” Fort Osage Superintendent Dr. Jason Snodgrass said Thursday.
“We are concerned about any action that reduces funding for public education and other essential public services,” interim ISD Superintendent Dr. Cindy Grant said Thursday. “We believe decisions that withhold or redirect locally collected revenues create significant uncertainty for school districts and other public entities.
If allowed to stand, these actions could have a substantial impact on our ability to provide the programs, services, and opportunities our students and families deserve.”
Grant previously spoke out about how LeVota’s tax policies have destabilized the district’s bottom line. The district was an early supporter of a controversial $6 billion tax break package for a hyperscale artificial intelligence data center currently under construction in Independence, on the grounds that fees from the project would make the district’s operating budget less reliant on Jackson County property tax policy.
“I think it’s so important to our schools and to public education in general to have sustainable funding that we can count on and that’s not subject to the whims of our Legislature,” Independence School Board member Denise Fears previously said.
LeVota’s tax troubles
LeVota has said publicly that he was instructed by the Missouri State Tax Commission to carry out the tax credit and clawback plan. The lawsuit alleges that this was a lie and that neither of LeVota’s tax plans were created at the direction of the state.
At Thursday’s press conference, LeVota doubled down on his claim that his tax programs are supported by state authority. He has previously referred to a line in the Jackson County Charter giving the Office of the County Executive authority to correct errors in the assessment process.
“The State Tax Commission determined that assessment errors occurred and directed corrective action to cap the assessment at fifteen percent,” LeVota said. “I feel like a broken record. I’ve done that.”
The lawsuit also alleges that LeVota’s credit plans violate state law because they would reopen assessment cases that are no longer legally eligible to be revisited.
LeVota, meanwhile, is trying to formalize both tax policies into county law, so that they cannot be easily reversed when his temporary term ends on January 1, 2027. An ordinance to codify both tax policies, introduced by Legislative Vice-Chair Sean Smith, is currently before the Jackson County legislature.
