KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson received a tip that the Missouri State Auditor's Office gave Jackson County a poor rating for its handling of the 2023 property assessment appeal process. Alyssa has covered the property tax assessment fallout for years. Want to share your experience? Share your story idea with Alyssa.
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The Missouri State Auditor's Office released a glaring report Thursday detailing how the Jackson County Board of Equalization failed to comply with county codes and state law during the 2023 property assessment appeal process.
KSHB 41 has covered the issues with the county's property assessment process for several years.
With the lowest audit rating of poor, Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick determined the assessment process was "flawed" and the appeal process "stacked the deck against taxpayers."
"The bottom line is taxpayers in Jackson County got a raw deal and were in effect dealt a losing hand by the Assessment Department and the Board of Equalization," Fitzpatrick said in a news release. "State law makes it abundantly clear that the burden of proof in the appeals process is on the Assessment Department and not the taxpayer. Despite this, the Board of Equalization set up a system in which county officials held all the cards and homeowners had to fight an uphill battle on an unlevel playing field."
According to the audit, hearing officers had an incentive to mediate as many appeals as possible, guaranteeing a $100 bonus for meeting a quota for signed agreements each day.
The audit found:
- The Board of Equalization (BOE) failed to require the department to meet its statutorily required burden of proof to support its valuations.
- The BOE failed to require the assessment department to provide an appraisal to support its computer-assisted valuation, as required by statute.
- The BOE accepted testimonial evidence from the Jackson County Assessment Department that was not substantiated by supporting documentation, while taxpayers were required to provide documentation to support their testimonial evidence.
- Photographs required by the BOE as proof of physical inspection were taken outside the reassessment period.
- The BOE failed to require the assessment department to prove it properly notified taxpayers of their right to request an interior inspection.
- The assessment department did not make supporting documentation for its appeals available in a timely fashion to taxpayers who had scheduled appeal hearings.
- The BOE also failed to sufficiently notify taxpayers of their hearing dates and provide timely information to evaluate the assessment department's evidence for the hearings.
- Taxpayers received notice of the right to an interior inspection less than two weeks before the appeal deadline, allowing insufficient time to request and receive an inspection before the deadline.
- The BOE did not have information available to review a negotiated assessed valuation because hearing officers maintained little or no documentation to support their valuations.
- The BOE did not adequately review or approve assessment modifications that taxpayers agreed to with the assessment department or in officer hearings.
The audit noted resistance from the Jackson County Assessment Department, Board of Equalization and county officials, including attempts to prevent the completion of the report, which required multiple subpoenas for records.
"It's unfortunate this process has taken so long, but I'm glad we can finally put this information in the hands of taxpayers so they can see all the details of a process that was as flawed and stacked against them as I'm sure they suspected," Fitzpatrick said. "I'm glad to see the county legislature and current County Executive have agreed with our findings and in many cases already put our recommendations into place. But let's be clear, Jackson County has to make dramatic improvements so taxpayers can have a fair process they can trust."
KSHB 41 Kansas City reporter Alyssa Jackson reached out to Jackson County Thursday morning for a response to the audit.
Jackson County property owners have been frustrated with the property assessment process since 2019. The county has seen a record number of appeals following skyrocketing valuations in the past several years.
The 2023 assessment cycle saw average valuation increases of 30%. Notifications were often sent to property owners late and failed to provide evidence of an in-person assessment for increases greater than 15%, as required by state law.
The fallout involved court battles and at least 54,000 appeals.
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