Class action lawsuit filed over Jackson County assessments

[Hammock Parties]

https://www.kctv5.com/2023/06/25/cla...y-assessments/

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) - A new class action lawsuit challenges the quality of Jackson County’s property assessment. It calls into question if some increases are even legal considering some notices came in the mail after the June 15 deadline, as required by state statutes.

The filing asks a judge to step in and offer injunctive relief. It also calls for a jury trial.

The lawsuit was filed by attorney and developer Ken McClain on behalf of Trevor and Amanda Tilton of Odessa and two businesses.

The lawsuit is critical of the methodology used by Jackson County to reach new values. It argues the newly-built assessment system fails to include sufficient information and there’s a lack of physical inspections.

It points out assessments should consider current market conditions. It argues that didn’t happen when it came to commercial property.

The lawsuit claims Jackson County uniformly increased the value of every non-vacant commercial property with an improvement by 25%. And vacant commercial properties had an across-the-board increase of roughly 50%.

KCTV5 has heard from numerous homeowners who are shocked by the large increases in their assessments. Some question if they’ll be able to keep their homes. They also question if they can realistically sell when property tax assessments increase so much in one fell swoop.

READ MORE: Jackson County property assessment workshops kick off
There has been a 30% average increase in Jackson County. The Assessor’s Office argues homeowners are seeing large increases because Jackson County real estate has not been assessed with Fair Market Valuations (FMV) for a long time and building costs have increased.

The lawsuit is filed against Jackson County Executive Frank White, Assessor Gail McCann Beatty and other members of the Board of Equalization.

KCTV5 reached out to Jackson County’s public information officer for comment but we have not heard back yet.

Politicans exempt from insane take hikes



Legislation drawn to overturn insane tax hikes:



Protest scheduled at Jackson County Courthouse:



KC Town Hall scheduled July 15

[Hammock Parties]

Jackson County Legislature rejects senior property tax relief measure by 8-1 vote https://t.co/gst9zeEHzi

— KMBC (@kmbc) September 12, 2023

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by Hammock Parties

Jackson County Legislature rejects senior property tax relief measure by 8-1 vote https://t.co/gst9zeEHzi

— KMBC (@kmbc) September 12, 2023

Did the people's champ Manny Arbaca have anything to say on this matter?

[ToxSocks]

Judging by the amount of Lions fans in the stands Thursday, these tax increases musta hit KC hard.

[|Zach|]

Originally Posted by Pablo

Did the people's champ Manny Arbaca have anything to say on this matter?

He actually did but its a bad faith question you don't actually care to have the answer to.

Just because a bill exists does not make it good...if you can create a better bill you craft and vote for that one.

[neech]

I'm just guessing here but I would say 40 percent or more of homeowners in Jackson county would be able to get senior property tax relief if it did pass.

The county legislators knows that it would take a big hit in taxes down the road if they passed it.

[neech]

Jackson County: 50 percent of residents appealing property assessments not showing up for hearings

According to data from the Jackson County Board of Equalization, about half of the individuals who have appealed their property assessment are not showing up for their appointments.
Jackson County assessor Gail McCann Beatty said the county has been scheduling about 300 appeals a day.
Beatty said the county is working to complete as many appeals as possible before billing begins on October 13th.
"We are trying to get as many of them completed before we go down for billing," she said.

https://www.kmbc.com/article/jackson...g-up/45109286#

Why wouldn't you show up for the meeting to get your taxes lowered? That's just laziness and irresponsibility on the homeowners part.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by |Zach|

He actually did but its a bad faith question you don't actually care to have the answer to.

Just because a bill exists does not make it good...if you can create a better bill you craft and vote for that one.

You're right I just wanted to make fun of the people's champ! I'm sure he means a lot to you though.

[duncan_idaho]

Originally Posted by neech

Jackson County: 50 percent of residents appealing property assessments not showing up for hearings

According to data from the Jackson County Board of Equalization, about half of the individuals who have appealed their property assessment are not showing up for their appointments.
Jackson County assessor Gail McCann Beatty said the county has been scheduling about 300 appeals a day.
Beatty said the county is working to complete as many appeals as possible before billing begins on October 13th.
"We are trying to get as many of them completed before we go down for billing," she said.

https://www.kmbc.com/article/jackson...g-up/45109286#

Why wouldn't you show up for the meeting to get your taxes lowered? That's just laziness and irresponsibility on the homeowners part.

My guess would be... they're missing the email notifying them of their appointment.

[Hammock Parties]

SHOES

Auditor Fitzpatrick believes the failure of the Jackson County Assessment Department to abide by the law should invalidate the increases in assessed valuation over 15 percent.

Read more about the preliminary results here: https://t.co/VDYoURXqqH

— Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick (@Auditor_Fitz) December 18, 2023

[neech]

One month isn't much time for Jackson County to fix this problem its the government, remember? This is hilarious.

State commission orders Jackson County to correct property value assessment

Jackson County is on the clock. It has 30 days to correct an untold number of property value assessments or they’ll be thrown out.

The order filed late Wednesday from the State Tax Commission cite multiple errors in the assessment process, which led to higher tax bills for thousands of people across the county.

The commission says the county did not physically inspect some properties. Those inspections are required when valuations increase 15%.

The order says the county did not notify property owners whose valuations went up that much and then made it hard, and in some cases, impossible for people to appeal their assessments.

Jackson County Executive Frank White Jr. is slamming the order, claiming it is both inaccurate and dangerously politicized.

https://fox4kc.com/news/state-commis...e-assessments/

[phisherman]

This is great. I just received an offer today from the county to reduce my 2023 assessment figure to a much more reasonable number but it was still over 15%. Looks like I might need to take a few days (more than 30) to consider their offer.

[duncan_idaho]

The State Tax Commission is overseen by Sec. of State's office. It's no coincidence that the day Bailey withdrew his lawsuit (because the County wanted to depose him, as part of his lawsuit, about illegal contact Bailey himself had with a Jackson County legislator) that tax commission issued these orders.

Part of the orders demand that every municipality that received "too much" from property taxes repay taxpayers for that.

Which sounds great and all (and is probably the right thing to do over time) but doesn't work for most municipalities.

That money has already been allocated and much of it has been spent - it's already in roads and equipment and salaries for police and fire and utility workers and other city employees.

Those orders are unlikely to stand as-is.

Jackson County bungled this. But the tax commission isn't "fixing" it. Just more "outside-KC area" oversight/slapping down on Jackson County and KC.

[Hammock Parties]

COMMUNISTS LOSE

[notorious]

I tell you what, property insurance companies and county appraisers/commission can go **** themselves with the Exxon Valdez.

[Hammock Parties]

Un ****ing believable. Jackson County is a bunch of totalitarian assholes.

Potential Bad News! Yesterday, we received word that the Judge that oversaw one of the Jackson County Property Tax Assessment Cases ruled that the State Tax Commissioner's Order to Roll Back the 2023 property tax assessments was valid.

However, there was another case filed in 2024 by the State Tax Commission to force Jackson County to comply with their Order that was overseen by the same judge that issued yesterday's ruling. On November 20, 2024, this Judge ruled that the State Tax Commission cannot use the Courts to force the Jackson County Government to enforce the State Tax Commission's Order, due to the fact that the State Tax Commission litigated this same case in June/July/August that resulted in the case being dismissed with prejudice.

This means that while the April 1, 2025 Judgment states that the State Tax Commissioner's Order was a Valid Order, the November 20, 2024 Judgment holds that the Courts are unable to enforce the State Tax Commissioners Order.

This means that while the Court has found that the 2023 Property Tax Assessments were unlawful and the State Tax Commission was 100% in its rights to issue the Order to rollback the property assessments, SINCE the State Tax Commission previously filed the case against the Jackson County Government on the same facts and for the same relief that was tried in June/July/August and dismissed with prejudice for the same/similar relief, the State Tax Commission cannot ask the Court to force the Jackson County Government to roll back the property taxes.

The November 20, 2024 case is currently being appealed and is in the Western District Court of Appeals hands. If they affirm the Judge's findings in the November 20, 2024 case, then Jackson County Property Owners may not get their property taxes rolled back as the Courts would be unable to force the Jackson County Government to comply with the State Tax Commission's Order.

I know this is very confusing. I might have to try my best to break this down in a Let's Talk Jackson. I hope my analysis is wrong. Stay tuned and be well.