Kansas City Today

Tax breaks helped Westside residents keep their homes

By Nomin Ujiyediin,

Published October 17, 2023 at 4:00 AM CDT

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In September 2022, the Kansas City Council approved a tax break program for homeowners on the Westside who saw their home values skyrocket. So far, 53% of all homeowners have signed up for the program, which cuts property taxes to a percentage of their income and, for some, freezes it at that level for 25 years.

Data shows that from 2018 to 2020, the average assessed value for owner-occupied homes on the Westside increased by 128%. No other neighborhood in Kansas City has seen an increase like that.

KCUR’s Madeline Fox sat down with KCUR local government reporter Celisa Calacal to talk about how a tax break program for these homeowners on the Westside is going one year in.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Byron Love, Anna Schmidt and KCUR Studios and edited by Gabe Rosenberg and Lisa Rodriguez.

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Nomin Ujiyediin

As a newscaster and a host of a daily news podcast, I want to deliver the most important and interesting news of the day in an engaging and easily understandable way. No matter where you live in the metro or what you’re interested in, I want you to learn something from each newscast or podcast – and maybe even give you something to talk about at the dinner table.

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Byron J. Love

As an on-demand producer, I am focused on using my skills and experiences across multiple digital applications, platforms and media fields to create community focused audio, video and on-demand products for KCUR Studios. The media that I produce aims to inform, entertain and connect with the Kansas City metro area as we continue to learn from each other. Email me at byronlove@kcur.org.

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Anna Schmidt

Anna Schmidt is the fall 2023 intern for KCUR Studios. She recently graduated from Kansas State University, where she was the Opinions Desk Editor for the Collegian student newspaper and took over the role of podcast host. You can email her at anna.schmidt@kcur.org.

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