KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jackson County legislators said a proposal from Executive Frank White, Jr. to cut property taxes is "hocus pocus" and "smoke and mirrors."
White announced his proposalon Sunday evening.
White said his $3 million property tax cut proposal will put money in the pockets of 200,000 people.
"It's a hocus-pocus bulls--- thing that is done by the executive's office that has nothing to do with the reassessment problem they have," Fourth District Legislator Dan Tarwater said.
Legislators had strong words for the administration, and specifically White, who is in Nashville for a conference and couldn't be at the legislature meeting on Monday.
They argue residents may only save $5 with White’s proposal, and will still pay a lot more in taxes because of property assessments coming back so high.
"This is outrageous that this was even proposed, that this is supposed to change the livelihood of folks. And the way it was worded. And whoever came up with this, I mean, my god, have you been blind for the last few months?" Second District Legislator Jalen Anderson said.
The property assessment debacle has been a hot topic all summer. People are seeing their assessments double and triple. The county and the Board of Equalization are dealing with tens of thousands of appeals and likely won't get through them until spring.
White suggested rolling back tax levies to make his cut possible.
School districts are in the middle of trying to set their levies, which need to be done before Oct. 1.
"There were obvious mistakes made and instead of us deciding that we were going to fix the damn mistakes we have continued to just roll," Second District At-Large Legislator Crystal Williams said.
White did a brief phone interview on the 41 Action News Today morning show. He was asked if he could do another phone interview in the afternoon, but reporters never heard back.
"I think the property assessment, the valuation of the properties, was done correct. I think this is part of the process, when the values go up, the Hancock Amendment is what allows taxing jurisdictions to release their levies to help tax payers," White said earlier Monday.
The Hancock Amendment prevents taxing jurisdictions, like school districts, from receiving a large windfall when taxes go up.
Preston Smith, who represents the Blue Springs School District on the Board of Equalization, echoed Tarwater's reaction to White's proposal, saying it's a horrible illusion.
Smith has been vocal about his criticisms of this year's assessment process, even suggesting ways to cap the values to avoid a mess.
"If [White] really wants to address an issue and send out a press release about tax cuts, he should be talking about things he's trying to do to clean up this assessment and fix it, 'cause it's still not fixed, not even close," Smith said.
County Assessor Gail McCann-Beatty was at the meeting and said she needs more staffing to do in-person physical assessments for the next assessment period. This year's assessment relied heavily on technology and online pictures of properties.
The legislature did not vote on White's proposal and tabled it until their next meeting on Sept. 30. They will take up McCann-Beatty's suggestions at that meeting, too.
