KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jackson County, Missouri, sued more than 1,000 property owners in its county and many don’t know they’re involved.
In September, the county sued the State Tax Commission.
In the lawsuit, the county argued an order from the commission to rollback 2023 property assessments is wrong.
In the suit the county named "all Jackson County taxpayers who had open appeals of the 2023 assessment pending before the State Tax Commission on August 6, 2024" as respondents.
An attorney representing some of those taxpayers filed a counterclaim to the lawsuit.
They argued Monday why the judge should not dismiss their counterclaim.
"We found out about it and we filed a counterclaim on behalf of her [one client] and all other similarly situated Jackson County property owners," said Nichelle Oxley, an attorney at Humphrey, Farrington & McClain. "To this point of how we got involved? The county sued us."
Oxley said the county has not served the named property owners with a summons. So many are unaware they’re part of the lawsuit.
Naming the property owners in the lawsuit is a strategy from the county to essentially stop the State Tax Commission's order from going into effect on these appeals.
The commission ordered the county to rollback 2023 property values on all properties whose assessed value increased by more than 15 percent compared to 2021 without receiving a physical inspection from the assessment department.
The county doesn't believe the one-size-fits-all approach is legal.
In the suit, the county argues it should have the opportunity to provide evidence and plead its case on how it arrived at the assessed value for each individual appeal.
The lawsuit shows there were 1,776 open cases with the State Tax Commission on August 6.
Some of the cases applied to individual homeowners; some owners are listed multiple times for multiple properties.
The case is scheduled to go to trial Jan. 13, 2025. The judge will issue a decision on the counterclaim before then.
Last week, the judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the State Tax Commission against Jackson County.
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KSHB 41 reporter Charlie Keegan covers politics on both sides of the state line. If you have a story idea to share, you can send Charlie an email at charlie.keegan@kshb.com.
