Amid outrage over Jackson County property assessments, MO lawmakers propose this change
For Danielle Dent-Breen and her mom Phyllis Dent, dealing with Jackson County’s increased property assessments has been a nightmare.
The assessment for Phyllis Dent’s Blue Springs home increased roughly 41%, causing her monthly house payment to jump by about $400. Dent-Breen’s payment for her home in Independence increased by about $150 a month, she said.
They spoke with the Assessor’s Office. They appealed to the Jackson County Board of Equalization. Dent, 79, even sent a letter to the Missouri State Tax Commission. But nothing ever happened, she said.
“There are a lot of people in Jackson County that are severely impacted by this and may be priced out of their home,” Dent-Breen, 54, said in an interview. “It felt incredibly callous, the whole process.”
Amid intense outcry from Jackson County homeowners after a dramatic increase in property assessments in 2023, Missouri state lawmakers from the Kansas City-area are under pressure to do something. Lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, have filed a slew of constitutional amendments that would make the county’s assessor an elected position.
The proposed amendments come as Jackson County remains the only charter county in the state with an appointed assessor. Supporters of changing that arrangement, including top leaders in the House and Senate, say the position should be directly accountable to voters.
Dent-Breen thinks it would be a step in the right direction.
“At least it would allow some form of accountability for that office,” she said.
Gail McCann Beatty, a former Democratic leader of the Missouri House, currently leads the Jackson County Assessment Department. Jackson County Executive Frank White, Jr., a Democrat, appointed her to the position.
The office is tasked with valuing and assessing all real and personal property in the county. In Missouri, real property is assessed every other year in odd-numbered years, such as 2021 and 2023.
A spokesperson for Jackson County did not respond to questions about the state legislation. But county officials, including Beatty, have previously said they’ve worked to correct errors in the assessment process. And while receiving bipartisan support, at least one top lawmaker has framed the amendments as a change that won’t solve the root of the problem.
The push to make the assessor elected also comes as Jackson County has been embroiled in legal action related to the assessments, including from property owners, Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey and the State Tax Commission. The county received a favorable judgment in one suit late last year and a trial related to the assessments is currently ongoing this week.
Lawmakers want a change
Missouri lawmakers of both major parties have filed at least six constitutional amendments to make the assessor elected, signaling that the issue is likely to be a priority this legislative session which started this month.
“You have people, particularly seniors on fixed incomes, that are at risk of being taxed out of their home,” said Senate Majority Leader Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican. “I think we need to have an assessor who’s elected and accountable to the people.”
The proposed amendments are relatively identical. While some would also require the City of St. Louis to have an elected assessor, those filed by Sen. Mike Cierpiot, a Lee’s Summit Republican, and Rep. Aaron Crossley, an Independence Democrat, for example, would solely deal with Jackson County.
The measures from Crossley and Cierpiot would remove an exemption that allows Jackson County to have an appointed assessor. If passed by lawmakers, the measure would go on a statewide ballot in November 2026 or at an earlier election if called by Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe.
“As with most issues like this, one bill isn’t going to solve it,” said Crossley, who said assessments were among the top three issues he has heard from his constituents. “But it’s one of the many things that need to be done. And I think starting off with some accountability to the voters is probably the best way to start.”
The amendments come more than a decade after Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the state constitution that allowed Jackson County to keep an appointed assessor. The exemption was specifically aimed at Jackson County and was worded to apply only to charter counties with populations of more than 600,000 people but less than 700,000 people.
Despite the bipartisan support, some have raised questions about whether a lawsuit could force Jackson County, which now has more than 718,000 residents, to make the position elected without legislative action. Others have even questioned whether the county is legally allowed to have an appointed assessor, but legal experts have previously cast doubt on that argument.
House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat, acknowledged that residents are clamoring for more transparency from Jackson County. However, she said she wants to talk with experts before she decides how she will vote on the issue.
While acknowledging the push for accountability, Aune also drew parallels to similar efforts by Republicans in Jefferson City to enact changes that impact the Democratic-leaning cities of Kansas City and St. Louis. Missouri voters across the state, for example, last year passed a measure to require Kansas City to spend more money on its police department.
“We’re constantly seeing efforts to control what happens in St. Louis and Kansas City and I don’t see that ending as long as there’s a Republican supermajority in power,” she said. “I see it as an easy political win for Republicans rather than actually doing some of the more difficult work to solve these problems.”
‘It’s super important.’
As state lawmakers prepare to debate the issue in the coming weeks, Jackson County homeowners are still waiting for some solution to their assessments after property values in 2023 increased by roughly 40% overall since the last assessment in 2021, according to previous reporting.
For Phyllis Dent, the 79-year-old Blue Springs homeowner, her experience dealing with the county over her increased assessment has been harrowing.
“In the end, you end up frustrated and not sure that you’ve done everything you should have,” she said. “We’re talking about people like me, who are almost 80…this is not our forte. We’re not lawyers. We’re not, you know, people that have ever dealt with anything like this.”
Her daughter, Danielle Dent-Breen, said the exemption allowing the county to have an appointed assessor had backfired dramatically. It leaves residents with no recourse, she said.
“I think that it’s super important,” she said of the proposed constitutional amendments. “Because the implementation has been absolutely abysmal.”
