Resident outrage on the nice side of the state line and a familiar fight arrives in the Golden Ghetto . . . The link tease probably reveals as much as the story behind the paywall, checkit:
'It's eating up my income': JoCo residents say property taxes could force them out
Carol Hein was looking forward to spending the rest of retirement in Roeland Park - in the house she has lived in for 38 years, surrounded by mature oak trees and well-maintained Cape Cod homes. She doesn't want to leave her two-bedroom ranch-style home, which is a lasting reminder of her late husband and the first years they lived together as newlyweds.
Many homeowners in Joco are bitching about their county appraisals going up 8% like mine in Shawnee to maybe 12% or 15% in PV. Threatening to leave--but where?
ReplyDeleteThey are not going to move to KCMO! Land of potholes, gunfire, and Frank White's raising THEIR county appraisals by 50% to 100%. Nor can I see Auntie Em moving to a farmhouse in the next county south.
What has to happen is:
1. The Kansas courts need to rule on the Dark Store lawsuit. NOW. The BOCC/(Joco county commission) is never gonna tell the appraiser to take his thumb off the scale till that case is decided at the state level.
2. Target and Walmart,all the big box stores etc. will probably WIN their suit. Some greedy appraisers invented (out of whole polyester cloth) the crazy strategy to suddenly tax the contents of a building! Counting the sheets and towels toward the real estate appraisal. Jacked up rates by double--eg to $16 million a year PER STORE on each box store, rather than $8 million for one store. No wonder they lawyered up. Inspired by a knowledgeable development attorney, John Petersen of Polsinelli, they didn't just challenge their appraisals like we might. They sued. And will likely win. All this in the midst of the death of retail, where Amazon has won and brick and mortar have lost.
3. So WHEN the big box stores win their suit, counties will be forced to even pay back ther devious and greedy overtaxation from back years. And yep-- When that happens, counties will lose 30% of their budget.
4. This is why elections count. This August and November, vote for fiscal conservatives for county commission. And your city council. And state senate. And state rep. The big four. Only THEY can reduce staff, reduce spending and live within OUR means.
5. Stop voting for kneejerk liberal socialists aka Dems funded by George Soros and "Indivisible" (indefensible??) who want to rescue everyone.
6. If you must relocate within Joco, and are a senior, I guess you will look for a ranch in old Overland Park near the Glenwood Arts Theatre. But not in OP's newly gentrified luxury apartments in their downtown. OP's mill level (tax rate) is 13 mills, rather than double that in Lenexa and Shawnee. Why? Because for now, OP still has the most businesses there. Businesses pay at twice the rate of homeowners.
Somehow a spectacular rise in the value of Johnson County homes is treated by the Star as yet another sign of systemic social unfairness. Long term homeowners are sitting on pots of gold. That gives them several good choices: sell, move somewhere cheaper, and pocket the difference; stay put and monetize home equity to pay property taxes; or get a job as a crossing guard.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to occur to no one that another way to lower property taxes is to reduce the government that they support. No doubt it's nice to be able to contact the PV police day or night to have them check on your house personally, but that's a service and you pay for services. Choose to cut back on them and reduce taxes by the amount they cost.
I don't know man, when the wind is blowing just right you can smell the desperation and cocoa butter wafting over the state line. I don't see PV residents giving up those house checks anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteThe property values don't matter as long as the taxing districts reduce the mill rate. For instance if the appraised value in a given city goes up 8%, if the taxing district(city, county, FD, college etc>) lowers the mill rate accordingly the taxes paid don't go up. Email all your taxing districts and ask them if they are lowering the mill rate. If not they are raising your taxes without a vote!
ReplyDelete