Jackson County legislators say no refund despite the state’s ruling on flawed property tax assessments

By Don Bradley

The fight over Jackson County property taxes now seems to be an all-out war.

Accusations, name-calling and threats were the order of the day Thursday as a group of legislators accused County Executive Frank White of plowing ahead with an assessment plan which they say has caused people to lose their homes and one that the state has said was rife with errors.

“It is imperative that the executive halt this flawed process,” 6^th District Legislator Sean Smith said at a press conference in a hallway just outside White’s office at the Jackson County Courthouse.

The fight has been building for some time. On Wednesday, the Missouri Tax Commission ruled that errors by the county’s assessment department affected 75 percent of the county’s 300,000 properties.

White’s office said it “unequivocally rejects” the commission’s decision, promised to fight it and called his critics “politically motivated actors who are ill-informed and acting in bad faith.”

First-district legislator Manny Abarca pointed out that the group included both Republican and Democrat legislators.

“This is not political,” Abarca said.

The group said they would take measures to prevent White from using county resources to fight the tax commission’s decision.

More than 55,000 property owners –a record number — filed appeals this year.

Cutting to the No. 1 question for taxpayers: No, they will not be getting a refund, the group at the podium said. Those funds are long gone to school districts, libraries, fire districts and whoever else.

Even future tax credits would be a challenge, Abarca said.

After the tax commission’s ruling on Wednesday, White immediately called the decision “inaccurate and dangerously politicized” and tied to a lawsuit by Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey.

Earlier Wednesday, Bailey filed a motion asking that his lawsuit against the county be dismissed. It was. He called the commission’s decision a “huge win for every property owner in Missouri, but especially in Jackson County.”

White’s office said it disagreed with the commission’s finding that any property that had more than a 15 percent assessment increase should have had a physical inspection.

White said the tax commission reviewed and approved the county’s assessment plan and that Wednesday’s ruling would be disastrous for school districts which could lose as much as $1,500 in funding per student.

Library systems, fire districts and cities could face drastic budget cuts.

Jackson County Assessor Gail McCann Beatty said the problem is that for years many properties were undervalued, forcing others to pay more.

“We cannot and will not allow this injustice to continue,” McCann Beatty said. “We will do our jobs and uphold the law by assessing properties at market value, regardless of these political games.”

White said the issue of unfair assessment has hit hardest on “Black and Brown communities.”

At Thursday’s press conference, 4^th District legislator DaRon McGee fired back.

“Let’s be honest, Frank White has been hurting Black and Brown families for a long time. That’s a smoke screen.”

The group at the press conference, which also included legislators Vanessa Huskey and Donna Peyton, said the legislature approved funds to hire staffers to help the public with appeals, but the administration wouldn’t hire them.

“Taxes should never be a reason somebody has to sell their house,” Smith said.

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