LEE SUMMIT, Mo. — Jackson County homeowners are still trying to beat the deadline to appeal their property value assessments — it’s one week from Monday.
"Everybody's mad," said Phillip Martin, a homeowner in Lee Summit.
Tens of thousands of homeowners are in the same boat.
"It's kinda nonsense to increase those rates so much," Martin said. "Everyone's protesting."
Martin is among those fighting his property value assessment that went up by 74%.
"Houses go up in value, I don't mind assessing on a fair value for the home," he said.
Martin reached out to KSHB 41 last week after he got one step closer to fighting his assessment, only to receive a confusing email from the Jackson County Board of Equalization.
"I got the notice saying I need to come in for a hearing and they gave me a date of convoluted numbers that didn't make any sense at all," Martin said.
It's an issue he said was quickly resolved.
However, it only adds to his fear of being stuck with higher property value than he can sell his home for, as well as, the unknown as he prepares for a hearing to justify what he believes is a fair amount.
"That's the frustrating thing — I can bring in all the paperwork in the world and show this is what the homes in my area have been valued at, and they can say that's not enough," Martin said. "We have no way of knowing what numbers they're using."
Since this isn't his first go-around with the Jackson County Assessor's Office, he thinks it's less of a people problem and more of a technology problem that could've been resolved in the early stages.
"Beta test 100 homes finding out if it is hitting pretty close to it or are there multipliers taking it up," he said.
Martin suggested that as one solution so many people aren't in the same position next time.
"Scrap it soon. They need to get rid of it. If they can, tweak it."
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