It’s been two years since the 2023 property assessment cycle sent Jackson County homeowners into a frenzy.
Taxpayers flooded the county with tens of thousands of appeals and a class-action lawsuit, culminating in an order from the Missouri State Tax Commission. Ultimately, voters recalled County Executive Frank White in a landslide special election.
Now, newly appointed Jackson County Executive Phil LeVota is rolling out his plan to address the hotly contested issues that have come to dominate county politics.
On this year’s property tax bill, some homeowners will have a lower property value listed than in previous years due to a cap on assessment increases. Starting next year, they’ll be awarded tax credits that they can use to help pay their property tax bills in 2026, 2027 and 2028.
But that tax relief won’t reach everyone.
Although Jackson County is capping assessment increases, it’s also shifting the tax burden. So depending on how the math works out in your neighborhood, you might still see your tax bill increase for this year and for the next three years as the county manages the fallout.
To help you understand what’s going on, The Beacon put together an FAQ guide to this year’s property taxes and what to expect over the next couple years.
Why is Jackson County awarding tax credits in the first place?
The most recent property assessment debacle started in 2023, when the average property assessment in Jackson County increased by 30% in value.
The vast majority of that increase was a result of a hot housing market. The rise of remote work caused spikes in home prices across the Midwest. Workers nationwide no longer had to live near their office, so some left expensive cities for more spacious and affordable cities like Kansas City.
Even if they hadn’t made any upgrades to their houses, homeowners saw their property values rise as a result of that surge in home prices.
But the sharp spike in Jackson County property values caused tens of thousands of property owners to flood the county with assessment appeals, trying to get a lower valuation.
In the process, an investigation found that the county did not follow the rules when those property owners appealed their assessments — particularly homeowners whose properties increased by more than 15% between 2021 and 2023.
So the State Tax Commission ordered the county to cap its assessment increases at 15%, affecting three out of four properties, or more than 200,000 parcels.
This year’s tax credits are a consequence of that order.
Property owners paid taxes in 2023 based on higher values than those now-capped assessment increases. The State Tax Commission has ordered that that excess money be returned to taxpayers because the assessment increases may not have been accurate.
Who will receive a tax credit?
Any residential property owner whose property assessment increased more than 15% in 2023 will receive a tax credit, with the exception of property owners who signed a stipulation agreement during a 2023 appeal.
That tax credit will appear on their 2026, 2027 and 2028 tax bills. There is no application necessary — each property owner’s bill will be credited automatically.
How much will the tax credits be worth?
The size of your tax credit depends on how much your assessment has been rolled back.
If your property increased 16% between 2022 and 2023, your tax credit will be relatively small because your assessment is only slightly above the cap of 15%.
But if your property assessment doubled between those years, you can expect a much larger credit.
Can I use it to pay this year’s bill?
No. The tax credits will be awarded in three equal installments on 2026, 2027 and 2028 tax bills.
Why is my property assessment lower this year than last year?
Many homeowners will see their assessment drop this year because of the retroactive 15% cap on assessment increases.
Essentially, the State Tax Commission determined that you were not given the full opportunity to appeal that assessment or get an interior inspection. So all property assessment increases of more than 15% are being treated as invalid and retroactively capped.
Your 2025 tax bill will reflect the capped assessment, which should be at most a roughly 32.25% increase since 2022, plus the value of whatever improvements you’ve made to your home since then. (A 15% increase in 2023 and again in 2025 adds up to 32.25%.)
If my assessment went down, will that reduce my tax bill?
Not necessarily.
Property tax rates fluctuate depending on how home values are trending on a broad scale.
That’s because school districts and other taxing jurisdictions are entitled to a certain amount of money every year to keep their budgets consistent and shield them from dips or spikes in property values.
If property values spike, tax rates go down. And if property values slump, tax rates go up.
(Kansas City Public Schools is the only exception to this in the state of Missouri due to a desegregation lawsuit.)
Property assessment is less about how much you pay and more about how the tax burden is distributed across all homeowners in the county.
So let’s say that this year’s property assessment cap reduced your property value. But maybe it reduced your neighbors’ property values more than yours. That means that because your neighbors get a bigger discount, you’ll be on the hook to cover the taxes that your neighbors aren’t paying.
It’s difficult to have a universal rule of thumb because there are so many variables when it comes to calculating tax bills. But generally, people whose 2023 assessment increases were on the lower end of the spectrum — especially relative to their neighbors — may end up paying more this year.
How long will my property assessment cap last?
Jackson County assesses properties on a two-year cycle, so the next reassessment will occur in 2027. For now, the cap on assessment increases will expire at that time.
Why can’t the county just refund my taxes, instead of issuing a tax credit?
Tax refunds are not an option, LeVota said, because that money has already been spent by the taxing jurisdictions. (Taxing jurisdictions are bodies of government that are funded with property taxes, including school districts, libraries, cities, fire protection districts, etc.)
“That’s the only way it works,” LeVota told The Beacon shortly after he was appointed. “There’s no money to get back to you, but you can get a credit.”
Where is this money coming from? Who’s paying for my tax credit?
Again, the majority of homeowners are receiving a tax credit. And if most taxpayers are using credits to pay some of their taxes for the next three years, taxing jurisdictions like school districts will take a hit to their funding.
But at the same time, those taxing jurisdictions — with the exception of Kansas City Public Schools — will have the ability to increase their tax rates to compensate for the money that they’re not getting.
So that leaves two options.
The first option is for the taxing jurisdictions to keep mill levies the same, eat the tax credits and lose out on tax revenue for the next three years. In that case, the money will come from schools, fire departments, cities and libraries.
Notably, taxing jurisdictions did not get any extra money in 2023 beyond what they got in 2022 because they were required to reduce their tax rates to prevent a windfall. They would need to either cut spending or pull from their reserves to prevent a mill levy increase.
The second option is for the taxing jurisdictions to increase their mill levies to make sure they can still fund their budgets. In that case, homeowners essentially will pay for their own tax credits. That means that even if you get a tax credit, the tax rate might increase more than enough to compensate for whatever discount you might be getting.
If you think of the tax credit like a coupon, it would be as if you’re getting a $5 coupon for a pizza that’s smaller than it used to be or $10 more expensive than it was.
Rita Jefferson, a local analyst at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, has concerns that as a result of these tax credits, the burden will fall onto homeowners who aren’t seeing the same market value increases as the rest of the county. And that could fuel distrust.
“It’s going to be harmful for the people whose properties either went up less than 15% or perhaps went down,” she said. “And that just makes it harder for everybody, too, because then they go to the other side and say, ‘Well, why is my tax bill still going up?’”
Kansas City Public Schools is in a different situation. When assessments spiked in 2023, it was not required to reduce the tax rate to compensate for the larger tax base. It’s the only taxing jurisdiction in the state that operates in that way.
My assessment was capped at a 15% increase, but I still think that’s an overvaluation. Can I get it lowered even more?
Yes, but it’s risky.
If you appeal your valuation, you’ll give up your 15% assessment cap.
Homeowners who have strong evidence — for example, if they bought their house this year for a lower price than the county’s valuation — could get away with it.
But there remains the possibility that when the county takes a closer look at your assessment, the Board of Equalization could determine that your property value is higher than it would have been with the 15% cap.
What if I appealed my assessment? Will I still get a tax credit?
If you signed a stipulation agreement during the 2023 assessment cycle, that is the value that you agreed upon with the county. Your assessment will likely not be capped, and you will not get a tax credit.
LeVota said he’s sympathetic to homeowners in this situation and would like to explore ways to get tax credits to those who appealed their assessments in 2023.
What does this mean for the 2027 assessments?
This year’s assessment caps won’t stop the hot housing market from pricing some homeowners out of their neighborhoods, according to Jefferson, the tax analyst.
The reality, she said, is that a big reason for the assessment spikes in 2023 was because the home demand was high and market values were increasing. And in Missouri, state law requires that assessments be within 10% of market value.
The good news, she said, is that market value increases across the nation are starting to slow down. But because Jackson County capped its 2023 increases, the county’s assessments are now lagging behind, and most homes are undervalued.
“Yeah, this is going to be fine for (2025) and (’26),” she said. “But once they do that (2027) reassessment, you might see it go back up again by another 15%.”
The open question is whether Jackson County will be prepared for another round of increases in 2027.
One of the big issues that former county Assessor Gail McCann Beatty faced in 2019 was that the assessment department was understaffed to the point where they struggled to process the 21,000 appeals they received.
LeVota said the county is going to develop its plan for the 2027 assessments next summer. But he said one of the big issues he saw with the 2023 assessment appeals process was that the burden was on the taxpayers to prove that their assessment was wrong, rather than the county proving that its assessment was correct.
“Understaffing in government agencies is always a problem,” he said. “Yeah, you never have enough people to do it, especially in a county this big … If we’re following (the plan), I think we can do it with the staff we have. If we need more staff, I’ll definitely get more resources.”
