Missouri property assessments are going up. Lawmaker wants to head off big tax hikes

As a red-hot real estate market drives up property values in the Kansas City region, a Platte County lawmaker wants the Missouri legislature to prevent homeowners’ tax bills from spiking.

But county officials warn the proposal would tie their hands to an unequal property assessment system.

State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican, has filed a bill that would prohibit counties from increasing homeowners’ taxable property values more than 5% or the rate of inflation — whichever is higher — in each two-year reassessment.

If passed, the bill would also require a statewide vote to go into effect. Luetkemeyer, who pursued the proposal last year, said hikes in homeowners’ assessed property values in 2019 and 2021 have prompted his effort.

“The most important asset for most people is their home,” he said. “When the government has the ability to increase their property tax assessment and, by extension, their taxes by 20, 30, 40, 50% or more in a single year, it risks people being taxed out of their homes.”

State lawmakers regularly propose legislation to give owners more of a say in how their properties are valued for taxation. But the General Assembly has paid special attention to the issue since 2019, when the biennial reassessment in Jackson County produced a spike that drove thousands of property owners to appeal.

Jackson County assessor Gail McCann Beatty, one of two county assessors in the state who is appointed, not elected, said then that she was bringing assessments closer to the homes’ actual market values. But some of the increases were three- or fourfold, and the sudden hikes came as a shock to residents after the office undervalued county properties for years — to the point where the State Tax Commission said Jackson County was violating state law.

That year, a committee of lawmakers issued a report recommending changes to give homeowners more protections in the process.

Some of the proposals, which Luetkemeyer sponsored, passed in 2020. These include shifting the burden of proof on valuations from the homeowner to the assessor, and requiring a physical inspection for homes that will see an assessment hike of 15% or greater. A proposal to freeze property assessments altogether was debated in 2021.

The proposal to cap assessment increases goes further than the 2019 report recommends, raising local officials’ concern they would run afoul of the state constitution’s requirement that properties be assessed at their market value.

Beatty, Platte County Assessor David Cox and Clay County Assessor Tracy Baldwin said their jobs are only to determine what properties are worth. Displeased homeowners can petition county legislatures for lower tax rates, they said.

“What is important is that you get everyone at market value so that everyone pays their fair share,” Beatty said.

When assessments are raised, state law requires counties and other local governments to lower tax rates applied to home values, to shield residents from a sudden hike in their actual tax bills. The one exception is Kansas City Public Schools.

The assessors said capping values would produce inaccurate assessments as property values are rising with few signs of slowing down. Such a measure would introduce inequities by causing some homes to be undervalued compared to others, they said. Beatty’s 2019 assessment resulted in an average increase in about 16% in 2019, and about 7% this year, she said.

Clay and Platte counties are also expecting continued growth in values.

“Not all properties change the same every year,” said Greg McHenry, an assessor in Manhattan, KS and the president of the Kansas City-based International Association of Assessing Officers. “When you put a valuation cap on it ... those homes that would typically be going up more are held by the cap, just like the homes that are on the lower end of the price range.”

Tax rates apply across the county equally, he said, so homeowners whose properties appreciate faster would be shifting their tax burden toward those who experience more modest growth.

But Luetkemeyer said he would rather prevent the “sticker shock” of substantial increases by assuring homeowners the “predictability” of no more than a 5% increase every two years. He called the legislation a “compromise” between himself and the state’s assessors’ association, which could not be reached for comment.

He’s also pursuing an expansion of property tax exemptions for disabled veterans, a proposal Kansas City Democratic Rep. Ashley Aune also has filed. Several other lawmakers have proposed property tax freezes, exemptions or credits for seniors.

Assessors said instead of capping values, they prefer that lawmakers push for a strengthened state property tax rebate program for seniors and low-income homeowners.

“I believe that there are particularly vulnerable populations who we need to protect with this legislation,” Luetkemeyer said, “but frankly, I believe that all property owners, regardless of their status in life, should be protected from these dramatic increases.”