Kansas City condo owner surprised by 153% increase in assessment

Yahoo

19 hours ago

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A recent order from the . Jackson County announced it intended to follow the order shortly before assessments were mailed out.
Brian Stephens said the county didn't seem to follow the order on his assessment. While other homeowners are doing the math and figuring out Jackson County set their assessments as high as they possibly could.
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According to the order which allows for two 15% compounded increases the most Jackson County is supposed to be able to raise your assessments from 2022 to 2025 is about 32%. Stephens saw his condo's assessed market value go up 153% during that time period.
Stephens lives in a one-bedroom condo downtown in the Union Carbide building. It's roughly 1,000 square feet. From 2022 to 2023 he saw a moderate increase in his assessed market value compared to many Jackson County homeowners that year from $232,000 to $255,900.Over the weekend he got this year's assessment.
'It went from $255,00 to $588,000,' a shocked Stephens said.
That's a 132% since the last assessment and a value he says there's no way he could sell the condo for. Meanwhile a neighbor saw their assessment go up 15%.
'No wishful thinking. If it was worth that I would sell it. There's no way,' he said.
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The latest order from the State Tax Commission says 2022 values can't increase more than 15% during each of the two assessment periods. The notice outlines the rules with only exceptions for new construction.
'This is a condo so we didn't do any major demo this year,' Stephens pointed out.
While Stephens case may be an outlier others monitoring assessments have noticed what they believe may be a trend once they track down their 2022 values not supplied on the assessment notice. Denise Scott says says Jackson County set her assessment at the absolute max under the order.
'I calculated it out and it was the 2022 plus 15 percent to the 2023 and another 15% to the 2025. So basically it's a 30% hit again,' Scott said.
That's despite living in a 1960s home with no remodeling.
'Things are getting up there and I know I need to do some work. But if you haven't done it how can you just hit people with the max and the max?' Scott said.
Scott worked in an assessor's office in a neighboring county.
'I know how all this stuff works. It's frustrating to me having been in that industry and knowing how well it can run. To watching how poorly this is run,' Scott said.
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Stephens appealed his assessment Monday facing nearly a $5,000 increase in his estimated annual property taxes from $3,902 to $8,833 based on the latest assessment.
The deadline to file those appeals is July 14. Legislator Sean Smith previously pointed out you still have the right to appeal even if your assessed value falls within the limits of the state order, if you don't believe the county's assessed market value is accurate.
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