Jackson County’s assessor is unelected. Missouri lawmakers are voting to change that

Amid an intense outcry from Jackson County homeowners over increased property assessments, the Missouri House on Thursday passed a state constitutional amendment that would make the county’s assessor an elected position.

The measure, filed by Rep. Dan Stacy, a Blue Springs Republican, comes as Jackson County remains the only charter county in the state with an appointed assessor. Months of fury from residents after assessments jumped significantly last year and a series of lawsuits have put pressure on lawmakers to change that arrangement.

The House approved the amendment on a vote of 116 to 10, sending the proposal to the Senate. If approved by both chambers, voters would have the final say in November or at an earlier election called by Republican Gov. Mike Parson.

The amendment removes the “special treatment of Jackson County and provides the Jackson County citizens the opportunity to elect their county assessor just like other charter counties,” Stacy said on Thursday.

“We in the state government must do our part. The county government then must do their part,” he said. “And the citizens of Jackson County must do their part.”

The Jackson County Assessment Department is currently led by Director Gail McCann Beatty, a former Democratic leader of the Missouri House. Jackson County Executive Frank White, Jr., a Democrat, appointed her to the position. The agency is tasked with valuing and assessing all real and personal property in the county.

Rep. Robert Sauls, an Independence Democrat, said on the floor that he supported the bill. However, he said he typically disagrees with the state determining local government decisions.

“We have got a situation where property tax has become extremely high and people are asking for help,” he said.

But Rep. Ingrid Burnett, a Kansas City Democrat, said that Jackson County should be able to decide how it handles its personal property taxes, pointing to the large amount of revenue the county brings in.

“This has been a messy process all the way through and I’m not defending that,” she said, before adding that “for this body to decide that the rest of the state should decide how Jackson County manages their personal property taxes is just bad policy.”

Thursday’s vote came more than a decade after Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the state constitution that allowed Jackson County to be the only charter county in the state with an appointed assessor.

The exemption specifically targeted Jackson County and was worded to apply only to charter counties with populations of more than 600,000 people but less than 700,000 people.

Supporters of the fresh effort to make the assessor elected say the position should be directly accountable to voters. Some have even questioned whether the county, which now has more than 716,000 residents, is still legally allowed to have an appointed assessor. But most officials and legal experts have cast doubt on that argument.

The county’s assessment process has faced criticism for months after residential property values increased by roughly 40% overall since the last assessment in 2021, according to county data.

Republican state Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick in December released the preliminary findings of an ongoing audit that found the county used a “flawed and inadequate” process that violated state law. A day later, Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey sued the county, alleging officials illegally increased homeowners’ property assessments. The lawsuit is scheduled for a case management conference this week.

But Jackson County also won a court battle the same month when the Missouri Supreme Court ruled in its favor in a lawsuit, finding that a series of property owners failed to exhaust other options before suing over the assessments.

Property assessments, which take place every two years, have long been a source of controversy in Jackson County. Many houses were chronically undervalued, Beatty and other officials have said, until she began raising valuations in 2019.