TKC EXCLUSIVE!!! COURTHOUSE INSIDER: KANSAS CITY SCHOOL BOARD INFLUENCE RESPONSIBLE FOR OUTRAGEOUS JACKSON COUNTY PROPERTY TAX SPIKE!!!



The blame game for sky-high Jackson County property taxes continues as locals scramble to cover costs and try to convince local, mostly renter newsies about the importance of the debate.

Even better . . .

SPECIAL THANKS TO COURTHOUSE INSIDERS FOR A GLIMPSE INTO HOW THE PROPERTY TAX CRISIS STARTED!!!

For some it's inside baseball but most locals familiar with the process know that a member of the Board of Equalization is appointed by the school board. For this current cycle of assessments what we're hearing from inside the courthouse is that new consultants to the BOE were focused on raising cash for schools and targeted neighborhoods that were undergoing gentrification. Sadly, the scattershot approach took out their wrath on a wide cross-section of residents.

Accordingly . . .

INSIDER FEAR THAT HIGHER PROPERTY TAX ASSESSMENTS ARE PART OF POLITICAL PUSH BACK AGAINST NEW MONEY IN KANSAS CITY NEIGHBORHOODS AND LONGTIME RESIDENTS ARE MERELY ENDURING COLLATERAL DAMAGE!!!

Remember that the school board has long been one of the most "progressive" institutions in Kansas City and supporters have led the charge to challenge developer tax breaks which take cash away from schools, libraries and neighborhoods. Courthouse insiders fear that consultants suggested by the school board put this agenda into practice when configuring assessments. At the very least, the denial of an agenda regarding the property tax spikes is obfuscation at best -- There's always a motive when money is involved.

What's worse is that the response from elected officials in Jackson County has been lackluster.

According to one Courthouse Insider:

"They're sitting on their f*ing hands. They think that people are going to forget about this in 3 & 1/2 years but nothing could be further from the truth. When people's homes are at stake. The consequences of this increase puts every legislator at risk. Right now (Exec) Frank White might have bigger things to worry about but all of the legislators can expect potential opponents to capitalize on this horrible mistake."

So what should have happened? How could Jackson County have handled this better???


Another Courthouse Insider responds:

"At the very least, the Legislature should have been out there the very next day and called a special committee or offered a way to facilitate and improve the appeal process. Instead, they decided to weather the firestorm of criticism and lay low. Bad move. Toward the end of this year, when the bills come due. They're going to get a whole new wave of complaints and really heartbreaking stories about people being pushed out of their homes."

Accordingly, here's some of the ensuing coverage and a glimpse of the crisis in the making . . .

Tax Fear Hits Kansas City

Spikes In Property Values Have Jackson County Homeowners Scared To Open Their Tax Bills

When Christine Taylor-Butler opened her property tax assessment Friday, she was shocked to see the value of her Hyde Park home had been raised by $250,000, which is up around 70 percent. "If someone writes me a check for $600,000, I will sell right now," Taylor-Butler laughed.


Sticker Shock Aftermath

JaxCo neighborhood property assessments doubling, tripling

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Lisa Meinen was shocked when she got her property assessment. The house she owns and rents out in the Troost Plateau neighborhood off 57th Street and Forest Avenue jumped from $45,000 last year to $102,000 this year. "Do they want me to sell? Like, is that the plan here?"


No More Low Cost Kansas City

More than 80 percent of Jackson County residents see property assessments go up

Hide Transcript Show Transcript COUNTY ARE WONDERING WHETHER VALUES ARE SO HIGH. >> ON THE BACK HERE THEY HAVE THE TAX ASSESSMENT. >> I IMMEDIATELY THOUGHT, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO? >> THIS IS THIS YEAR'S MARKET VALUE. >> WHEN SHE GOT HER TAX ASSESSMENT IN THE MAIL, SHE SOUGHT AS AN EVICTION NOTICE.


Accordingly . . .

The political fallout continues but here's a sneak peek at where this controversy is going . . .

EXPECT BLAME TO SHIFT TO LOCAL EDUCATION LEADERS AS TAXPAYER OUTRAGE WORSENS AND VOTERS SEARCH FOR VULNERABLE TARGETS!!!

And so, there's a hint that advocates against upcoming KCMO Question 1 on the June 18th ballot can use this costly move to their advantage and paint education activists against developer TIF as vengeful and responsible for higher priced setbacks to local residents.

Developing . . .

Comments

  1. Yes, this is inside baseball but not rocket science. I agree with TKC. This was a calculated move and there is a target. The areas hardest hit like Hyde Park have always been targeted by the 3rd district. They don't want new people moving in.

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    1. Once again the KCPS screws over all of Kansas City. When can we ever stop paying for their nightmare. Time to break up the district. They damage they are doing is detrimental to all of Kansas City.

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    2. Yes, property taxes increase over time but a 300% increase is unheard of. The Legislature should have done more to prevent that kind of increase. They're the ones who are really to blame because they have to sign off on all of the major decisions along the way.

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  2. I got this. STFU people. Most of you do not even have a nice truck without paying for it. Lick my boot.

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  3. Its this kind of corrupt bullshit along with the earnings tax while you would be smart to buy a home outside of KCMO city limits.

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  4. ^^^^ Truth.

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  5. The blame should fall directly on the shoulders of Frank White and the people who enable him. This is an example of gross mismanagement at its finest and voters would be smart to remember how he mismanaged this critical part of his job. A 300% increase for some people is simply unacceptable and it should be inexcusable for an elected official to try and justify this. It's not "market rate" it's price gouging plain and simple.

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  6. Said it once and I'll say it again, we all pay for what a horrible school district that we have been stuck with.

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  7. Time to recall Frank, he has done enough to deserve it and his problems with loans and housing is enough to question his leadership. Frank needs to go.

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  8. I don't notice many rich people too upset about this, i would argue that this works out good for the developers in the long run. We need to work on changing kansas city and clearing out of a lot of the trash. If you can't afford to live here it's time to think about moving some place else.

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  9. ^^^ Spoken like a true trailer park scumbag from The Dotte. Sorry you lost at life grandpa.

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    1. But that FREE ride toy train thingy bringing 25 million tourists to your cowtown anally is COOL6/12/19, 12:59 PM

      A trailer park in Whinedirt County is paradise compared to the shithole blighty badlands that keep your Killa Shitty at #5 for MURDER MOMENTUM!

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  10. Brookside Voter6/12/19, 12:08 PM

    Jackson County has declared war on homeowners. If we had a real executive who wasn't under investigation, maybe there's something that could be done about it. As we stand now, the county is just cowering and voters don't have real leadership.

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  11. Looks like Sly's gang are trying the Detroit method. People struggling to pay their property taxes. One big reason is that, in the years after the Great Recession, the city went bankrupt and failed to lower property assessments far enough to account for the impact of the housing crisis. While the value of residents’ homes fell, their taxes remained inordinately high, and tens of thousands of people fell so far behind on their inflated tax bills that the county seized their homes and sold them off at annual auctions.

    In recent years, the city and county have lowered assessments and offered reduced interest rates to some homeowners. But they have no plans to stop punishing those who were overcharged in the past.

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  12. I called Jackson county yesterday wanting to know when I was supposed to get my letter and they told me they haven’t mailed all of them yet, I told the very nice lady that I only have a week and a half left to appeal plus they computers are going to be down the 21st, 22nd and 23rd so now I have even less time to appeal, funny thing is there’s a PIN number on your letter that you have to have to appeal with and if you don’t have you can’t do jack shit, by the way, the lady didn’t know the computers were going to be down. All this because some black chick running the show who used to have something to do with the school district is trying to get even with sLIE, sLIE don’t give a fuck and neither does Frankie boy, it only fucks the taxpayers and nobody else, what is wrong with these people.

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  13. It's insane they bumped up property taxes this high in addition to the one percent tax

    Weird footnote...I live in KCMO but don't work there so I have to write a check every year during tax time for one percent. Mailed it back in April. So far they haven't cashed it

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  14. I feel like things are going to change on this. I haven't seem people this up in arms since the Paseo name change

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  15. Don't ever want to hear the city talk about affordable housing ever again

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  16. Affordable housing is code for free for the blacks so.... by the way, the central cores taxes didn’t go up one penny, imagine that, the blacks didn’t get a property tax increase.

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  17. Ponzi ploys aplenty!!!6/12/19, 5:02 PM

    Soooooo, getting vocal is a start, but taxpayers who are not complacent about this latest grab into their pockets will GET BUSY BEYOND THE BITCHING!!! Some tax rates adjustments are likely due upward for some, downward for others. Sudden increases 100%, 200% and higher is FUBAR!!!

    Biggie BowTie's pre-K slick scheme got booted, and the fake revs end-run around voters for the Paseo switcheroo is getting reconsidered. Time to meet up with the media (Fox 4, the most fair) plus do the appeal process on the hikes that aren't equitable.

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  18. These hikes are due to what sold in the area and for the price they sold for. People have been over paying for house in the area since 2016 when that frenzy was going on. Now they want out and can't sell because they are underwater the house is worth less than they owe on it. I got 50K more than the bank appraised my house for in Central Hyde Park during that time. So some of the blame goes on people who over paid and I don't think you can fight that.

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  19. You can fight it by moving out of the city limits, and that's what the smart money will do. The thing is KCMO is putting it's property tax rate up there with Johnson County, except JOCO actually has decent roads, decent schools, etc.

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  20. ^^^^ Totally the best strategy.

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  21. Another executive in trouble with the law and taxpayers left in the lurch. That's Jackson County for you.

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  22. ^^^ that’s black people for you, they’re gonna get all the money that the white people have, that’s what this is all about, taxing the 70% whites and not taxing the 30% black.

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  23. Bad deal from the get go, we need to hold some people accountable but it seems like the feds are the only ones who can really get things moving. I am guessing we'll see them again sometimes soon.

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  24. There needs to be a better process review. Already 2000 requests and it's not even close to tax time. The county should devise a better solution.

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  25. This has put us over the edge! It is way past time to get out of central Hyde park, crime has been increasing and now this, just too much. Hey city council and Jackson county, who is gonna pay your bills when we leave this place!

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