Jackson County’s BOE postpones its property assessment hearings
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jackson County Board of Equalization (BOE) Manager Gladys Howard said the board’s postponing property assessment hearings through the end of the year.
The board didn’t provide a reason why, as county taxpayers face a Dec. 31 deadline to get their property taxes paid without facing penalties.
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The news comes just two days after Missouri Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick released a preliminary report on the county’s assessment process, saying that the assessment department failed to comply with state law.
“As many as 200,000 Jackson County taxpayers have been victims of an assessment process that violated state statute and trampled on their rights,” Fitzpatrick said during a news conference Monday.
For the first time in three months, the county’s Director of Assessment Gail McCann Beatty spoke Wednesday about this issue on camera.
“I agree that it’s a wonderful political statement for somebody running for political office, that there is not one iota of truth to that statement… period,” she told FOX4 Wednesday when asked about Fitzpatrick’s statement.
McCann Beatty also said she believes there were some definite inaccuracies in that preliminary report.
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On Tuesday, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey and the Missouri State Tax Commission filed a lawsuit against the county.
McCann Beatty said she was surprised to see the State Tax Commission join the state in that lawsuit, but she said the county will defend itself.
Bailey, Fitzpatrick, and local attorney Sherry DeJanes have all advised people to pay their property taxes under protest by the end of the year. McCann Beatty said that’s not necessary though.
“You’re going to get that refund no matter what,” she said. “If a court comes down and says, ‘The county needs to do X, Y, and Z,’ it’s going to apply to everyone in the county, not just those that filed an appeal, not just those whose appeals haven’t been resolved yet, so I don’t know that there’s really an advantage to paying under protest.”
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McCann Beatty said her department has resolved more than 40,000 appeals with more than 14,000 still remaining. She said she doesn’t like the fact that residents are confused and angry.
“I understand that, too,” she responded when told that people want her fired. “But I also know that I’m doing my job, a job that I love, a job that I know I have the appropriate background for, a job that I know that, in the long run, the county is going to be in a much better place.”
McCann Beatty said she has more than 30 years of experience in appraising. She has been in this position since 2018, adding that the county is closer than it’s ever been to reaching market value on all of its parcels.
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“I can’t answer those questions because I wasn’t here,” she continued when asked why properties weren’t up to market value before she was appointed.
McCann Beatty isn’t in charge of the county’s BOE. That group’s three members are appointed by Jackson County Executive Frank White. McCann Beatty’s appointed by White as well.
