Preston Smith Corrects Frank White In Run For County Assessor

This note offers a great perspective from a longtime local tax fighter AND kinda kicks off a campaign by way of a fiery note . . . Check-it:

Preston Smith: Response To Frank White

The May 22 State Tax Commission order, and Jackson County government’s agreement to follow the order, is the first time in six years that the County has done anything to support its taxpayers.

The 2023 assessment was inaccurate, illegal and unfair, and collected more than $236M extra from taxpayers than it should have because the County had not followed the law of providing taxpayers proper notice nor conducted proper physical inspections.

As County Executive Frank White has said, the money is spent, and it was “time to turn the page” and the County has made no effort to repay taxpayers a dime for this tax that was collected illegally. Under the state laws, Jackson County taxpayers are due that amount, at the very least.

White claims now that the Kansas City, MO school district will “lose” $38M this year alone. In fact, the KCMO school district—which is not subject to the Hancock Amendment—took in $41M extra in local taxes in 2023-24 than it did in 2022-23. Somehow the school district survived in previous years without the extra money from local taxes. In 2018-19, the district had a total revenue of $145M from local taxes, $40M lower than it was in 2022-23 and $80M lower than in 2023-24.

In fact, in 2023-24, the KCMO school district had total expenses of $348M and total revenues of $401M. The ending balances of all funds was $204M. They are flush with cash.

Jackson County government has now agreed to abide by this STC order, even though only a month earlier had resisted the identical order. Now, the rhetoric continues that by giving the County taxpayers a supposed “break” by resetting the 2025 assessment values, school
districts will be harmed beyond repair.

That simply is not so. Unlike a system that has 55,000 appeals that drag out for more than two years, the 2025 assessment will be one that the school districts can plan for and manage. The 2025 assessment will be easier for the school districts to cope with than the
2023-2024 debacle ever could have been.

Frank White’s effort to avoid accountability and admit that the 2023 assessment was tragically flawed now includes drastic exaggeration of the financial impact, and a thinly veiled effort to transfer blame to the State Tax Commission, that enforces property tax laws in Missouri.

At a press conference earlier today, Frank White said he thought the STC was “making changes to the order,” but the STC attorney said they had no plans whatsoever to change the order. Does this mean that Jackson County was trying to negotiate the order and make changes?

Perhaps the best question for Frank White should be: Why follow THIS STC order now if it is so detrimental to Jackson County?

And one more question, Frank: When are the County’s taxpayers going to get their refunds for the inaccurate over-collections for 2023 and 2024 that you and your appointed assessor oversaw?

Preston Smith Candidate for the Elected Jackson County Assessor

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Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Jackson County agrees to follow State Tax Commission order on 2023 reassessment

Developing . . .