Jackson County Exec Levota Accuses Opponent Bill Baird Of Tax Hike Scheme

Already, this Democratic Primary at the courthouse is more fun that TKC could have ever imagined.

Today, here are the basics . . .  

Exec LeVota admits he signed a document in October 2024 stating he did not intend to run. However, he clarifies that the circumstances changed quickly after the note and, also, his plants changed due to recent events.

HOWEVER, THE TAX HIKE ALLEGATION AGAINST BAIRD IS EPIC!!!

The basics that deserve a highlight . . . 

Exec LeVota claims that during a March 2026 meeting, Bill Baird pressured him to raise property taxes and assessments to benefit taxing jurisdictions and developers."

Now here's the statement he's sharing with media in full . . .  

LeVota Responds to opponent’s criticism and more specifics on a reason he filed for office to protect taxpayers from Bill Baird’s plan to raise taxes. 

I want to set the record straight about a few things. I have never denied that I signed a document in October that clearly said “I do not intend to run for County Executive in 2026.” And when I signed that document, I did not intend to run but I never promised to never run or that my intention wouldn’t change. I did not want to run.

However, in response to the question of why I am now running, I did not talk about all of my reasons in changing my intention because I was trying to be polite and take the high road. But today when Bill Baird tried to make some political points and question my integrity and honesty, I want to share one of the reasons when I changed from not intending to run to actually filing to run.

A few weeks ago on March 11, 2026, Bill Baird asked me to attend a meeting with himself and several other mayors in Raytown, Missouri. At this meeting after a “white board” presentation to me, Bill Baird actually asked me to implement a policy to raise assessments immediately and increase property taxes for Jackson County taxpayers and to not issue tax credits. I was shocked. After I have spent the last five months lowering assessments and taxes for Jackson County, I was flabbergasted and thought he was joking but he was not. He was actually advocating for me to raise taxes/assessments because when taxpayers paid lower taxes the taxing jurisdictions got less and he ACTUALLY wanted me to raise taxes on Jackson County taxpayers. I continued to say I would be no part of this in any fashion as the reason I was in this office was to lower taxes not raise them. (The three other people in the room did not share Baird's plan to raise taxes.) After I left the meeting, I was still so confused but then realized Bill Baird has made a lucrative career in public and private life helping developers make money at the expense of taxpayers so it made sense. But I set it aside because I knew I would not be part of that scheme to raise taxes.

It was not until I saw that Bill Baird had actually filed for Jackson County Executive that my red flags went up. I knew that he had already openly shown to me and many others that his goal was to raise your taxes. It was then that I changed my previous “intention not to run” and I followed the advice of many to file for office. Let me be clear, I am running to protect taxpayers because a Bill Baird County Executive has openly said he will raise your taxes. He advocated for me to do raise them and when I said no, he decided to run himself so he could raise your taxes.

It is still almost unbelievable that Baird would think he could get elected on the policy that he will raise your taxes. And I am sure that the others in that room where he presented his tax raising plan also would agree. Now Baird has the audacity to question my trustworthiness? Regardless of his unethical position trying to confuse voters, I will stand by my record of lowering taxes and yes, even changing my intention to run when I see someone coming after taxpayers. This election is not until August but the choice between Phil LeVota and Bill Baird is simple. Baird openly supports and has a plan to RAISE your taxes and LeVota has a track record of lowering and LeVota will step up to run when he didn’t want to in an effort to protect Jackson County from people who want to go backwards and raise taxes. The choice is yours Jackson County.
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