KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A representative of Jackson County's Board of Equalization presented new findings Thursday, which he claims show flaws in how the county conducted this year's property assessments.
Preston Smith, a Board of Equalization representative for the Blue Springs School District, presented his findings to the board.
He alleged that the county purposely raised assessed values on many homes 14.9% to avoid a a legally required in-person inspection. Such inspections are required when a property values jumps by 15% or more.
Smith also said data he gathered shows the poorest areas of town were not part of the 14.9% cap and instead were subjected to wild increases.
Barb Woodman said she did everything she needed to when appealing her Jackson County property assessment.
"I always plan for the worst financially just to be sure, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to fight for what it should be," Woodman said.
She filed her appeals on time and even got an outside professional appraisal.
"He gave me a final market value that was $40,000 less than what the county said," Woodman said.
Woodman is not sure if she'll win her appeal, but she said a county appraiser never came to her door. That means a 31% increase can't be accurate, especially with all the work it needs.
"They simply didn't do the work and the taxpayer is going to suffer when the bills go out," Stacey Johnson-Cosby said.
Johnson-Cosby and Smith, two outspoken critics of the assessment process, finally got a special meeting in front of the Board of Equalization.
They said their data backs up Woodman's complaint — that many properties with increases over 15% did not get an in-person appraisal as the law requires.
Among the evidence Smith presented was internal county emails, which show the Jackson County Assessment Department did not know how the property values were calculated.
In one email, John Ebert, a consultant for the department, told County Assessor Gail McCann Beatty and Chief Administrative Officer Ed Stoll that “without that defined explanation, the Assessment Department and the County are terribly exposed for residential values mailed out that cannot be explained as to how (they're) calculated. Worse yet, with huge increase that cannot be explained as to how calculated.”
"They need to come forward with an inter-county equalization order and change the county values county-wide," Smith said.
Smith and Johnson-Cosby introduced four proposals to the Board of Equalization:
1. Roll back all commercial and residential values to 2017 values, with exception of new construction or property conversions;
2. Set a cap on all commercial and residential assessments countywide at an 8% increase over the 2017 values;
3. Set an increase of 6% above the 2017 assessed values for 65,000 residential and commercial parcels within the area bounded by Independence Avenue to the north, Blue Ridge Cutoff to the east, 85th Street and the Grandview Triangle to the south, Troost Avenue to the west and including the Westside neighborhood;
4. Set a cap on all commercial and residential assessments countywide at a 14.9% increase over the 2017 values.
"If they don't make a decision there is no other way," Smith said. "This is it."
The Board of Equalization didn't make any decisions at Thursday's meeting, relying on the argument it's made all summer — that they still don't know what power they have legally to halt the process.
Smith and Johnson-Cosby said Missouri statute 138.050 (2) is clear when it said the Board of Equalization has the power reduce the values when they're assessed too high.
Chairman Christopher Smith said they agree with Smith and Johnson-Cosby's arguments, but he'd rather hear from an attorney about what the statute means.
"They had three months to look it up in the law and three months to research it, and we're still at this point? I was a little bit disappointed," Smith said.
Tax bills are set to be mailed next month.
Woodman said the Board of Equalization still hasn't given her a hearing date, while the Assessment Department already denied her informal appeal.
"They're basically stonewalling me," Woodman said.
