KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Jackson County Board of Equalization is trying to figure out how it's going to work through the assessment appeals hearing process for 17,401 formal appeals.
That number does not include formal appeals postmarked by Sept. 3 but not yet received and emailed appeals that haven't been opened yet.
Director of Assessment Gail McCann Beatty said this is uncharted territory for the Board of Equalization and the Jackson County's Assessor's Office, so both departments need to work together.
"We've never done this before, so it's going to be a new process for us," McCann Beatty said.
She said her office is moving through the informal reviews quicker than expected. Of the 21,742 that were filed, about 11,000 have been processed.
"I can't speak for the BOE, but we will be finished probably before the end of October," McCann Beatty said.
She believed some of the formal appeals filed may have been from folks who have not yet heard from the County about their informal reviews.
The Assessor's Office will be sending out about 6,000 notices during the next week, which McCann Beatty said could help settle some of the formal appeals.
There are still a few details to nail down about how the formal appealed hearing process will work.
"More than anything else, it's a logistical thing of making sure that everyone's on the same page and working together to do this, and I think we'll be fine," McCann Beatty said.
The County is paying for the Board to hire hearing officers who are either licensed attorneys, licensed real estate agents or state-certified real estate appraisers. They must be Jackson County residents.
The Board has not specified how many spots it has filled or plans to fill.
Preston Smith, who represents the Blue Springs School District on the Board of Equalization, said he has concerns about the people hired for the role.
"Even if you do get someone to take that job, there's no guarantee they'll keep it," Smith said.
He also worries the hearing officers hired will not go through proper background checks.
Smith has come up with his own suggestions in the past of how to handle the situation. He and a group of Westside residents will be asking the Justice Department to step in.
"They will be sending a negotiator to try to work with the Board of Equalization, so we can talk about how to overcome some of these obstacles," Smith said.
He also plans on meeting with a top Kansas City real estate agent to develop inter-county equalization orders that meet all the criteria required by the Missouri State Tax Commission.
"These house values that we're going to recommend to the Board of Equalization will be based on market values and they also will be based on fairness across the board," Smith said.
