KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Jackson County Board of Equalization will convene a special meeting on Monday to discuss extending the deadline to file a formal appeal for property assessments.
The board will have to work quickly, because the deadline for filing the appeal is also Monday.
Board members encouraged property owners to file formal appeals by July 8 at a meeting Wednesday regardless of what the Board of Equalization (BOE) decides.
"If they're saying right now July 8 is it, that's it," Ximena Pecina, a community organizer with the Westside Housing Organization, said. "We can't take any other word. If it's not written on paper, we can't trust it."
The Guadalupe Center and Westside Housing Organization are fielding dozens of phone calls and helping folks with appeal forms.
"Monday, it's going to be a busy day," Pecina said. "We're going to help as many people as we can all day. The deadline, we're saying 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock, because you never know and you want to make sure it's in."
The Guadalupe Center's doors will be open Monday for any last-minute help.
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The county legislature supports an extension, but ultimately it's up to the BOE.
"For every one of these people here, there's a thousand folks out there that don't have any idea what the Board of Equalization is," county legislator Scott Burnett said.
Jackson County Assessor Gail McCann Beatty told the board at Wednesday's meeting that her office had received nearly 22,000 informal appeals and had processed more than 3,000. Those informal appeals still require the BOE to sign-off on the resolution.
The Guadalupe Center will conduct a community meeting at 6 p.m. on Sunday. It is open to everyone, not just Westside residents, and organizers are hoping to have some Missouri state representatives present to listen to people's concerns.
The appeal form is available on the BOE website, by calling (816) 881-3309 or at one of two county offices:
Jackson County Courthouse Board of Equalization
415 E. 12th St., Room 102
Kansas City, MO 64106
Historic Truman Courthouse Assessment Department
112 W. Lexington Ave., Suite 145
Independence, MO 64050
Appeal can be submitted in person, by mail or via email to boardofequalization@jacksongov.org. Appeals cannot be faxed.
For now, the deadline remains July 8.
