12/03/2025
Long read. Worth it! I so appreciate Jim Howell - Sedgwick County Commissioner. I learn much from him.
Posted by Joanie Harris (for transparency)
🔥 PROPERTY TAXES IN KANSAS: WHAT’S REALLY GOING ON & HOW WE CAN FIX IT — FOR REAL 🔥
(A Long Post Comprehensive Explanation for Kansans who deserve the truth, not soundbites.)
If you’ve been shocked by your property tax statement in recent years, you’re not alone. I too am shocked and I agree that there MUST be reform. Kansans across the state—rural and urban—are frustrated, confused, and looking for real answers. And frankly, they deserve honesty and transparency about what’s happening, who is responsible, and how we can fix it.
Representative Adam Smith, Chairman of the Kansas House Tax Committee, recently published an outstanding, plain-spoken explanation of the crisis. Here is a link to his explanation: https://mailchi.mp/e8caa0cf7458/my-two-cents-of-common-sense-jan-24-2025?e=[UNIQID]
I agree with much of Chairman Smith’s assessment. But I also believe we must go further. Kansas needs comprehensive property tax reform, and there are at least 13 specific, meaningful steps we can take to restore fairness, accuracy, and accountability without violating the Kansas Constitution.
Let’s walk through what’s really happening and where Kansas must go next.
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📌 HOW WE GOT HERE — AND WHY PROPERTY TAXES FEEL SO PAINFUL
1️⃣ Home values skyrocketed after COVID
As Chairman Smith explains, residential valuations exploded because the housing market exploded. Construction costs surged, labor shortages worsened, supply chains broke down, and people were outbidding each other by tens of thousands of dollars. Appraisers don’t create value; they follow the market. But when the market moves suddenly, valuations jump suddenly.
2️⃣ Inflation crushed local governments too
Just like families, local governments saw soaring costs:
• Insurance
• Fuel
• Construction
• Labor shortages
• Materials
Even when they tried to keep budgets steady, inflation pushed everything upward.
3️⃣ Property tax is the most hated tax
Property taxes feel uniquely painful because:
• They’re based on unrealized gains
• You get the bill all at once
• You pay based partly on your neighbors’ values, not just your own
• Bills arrive right before Christmas
Chairman Smith is right: it’s the worst possible timing.
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📌 WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?
Not one group — three groups share the responsibility.
1️⃣ The State Legislature
Over the years lawmakers have:
• Exempted certain property types
• Eliminated fees that used to fund local budgets
• Pushed unfunded mandates
• Suspended state-to-local transfers
All of these forced local governments to raise mill levies or shift burdens onto remaining taxpayers.
2️⃣ Local Governments
Cities, counties, and school districts build budgets first and then calculate the tax rate needed to fund them. Unlike a household, they can simply demand more revenue.
3️⃣ Voters and Constituents
This is the uncomfortable truth:
People demand more services than ever before—better schools, more public safety, more amenities—and then become angry when the bill arrives.
We must balance expectations with fiscal discipline.
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📌 WHY I AM CONCERNED ABOUT THE SENATE’S “ASSESSMENT CAP” PROPOSAL
The Senate wants to cap assessed value growth, often at 3% per year.
It sounds good in a soundbite.
But constitutionally—and practically—it creates serious problems.
⚠️ 1. It violates the Kansas Constitution
Article 11, Section 1 requires:
Residential property shall be assessed at 11.5% of market value.
If market value rises 10% but assessed value is capped at 3%, then the assessed-value-to-market-value ratio begins to drift below 11.5%.
Over time, homes would be assessed at:
• 9%
• 7%
• 5%
…depending on how long someone has lived in the home. That is not uniform and not equal.
Two identical houses could pay dramatically different taxes simply because one owner moved recently and the other didn’t.
That violates the Kansas Constitution’s fairness requirement.
Fixing that would require a Constitutional Amendment, and once we lock it in, we may never be able to fix the unintended consequences.
⚠️ 2. Caps reward errors and punish accuracy
The biggest spikes in valuation are almost always corrections, not actual market change. The system is full of appraisal errors.
If we cap assessments:
• Under-assessed properties stay unfairly low
• Over-assessed properties shift burden onto everyone else
• Accurate properties subsidize inaccurate ones
The answer is not caps — the answer is accuracy.
⚠️ 3. Caps do NOTHING to control spending
The real issue is spending.
Assessments don’t create taxes — budgets do.
Cutting valuations without cutting budgets just forces local governments to raise mill levies.
We’ve seen this across the country wherever caps were adopted:
➡️ Spending stays the same
➡️ Mills go up
➡️ Nothing is fixed
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**📌 WHAT REAL PROPERTY TAX REFORM LOOKS LIKE
— 13 Practical, Constitutional, Conservative Solutions —**
Instead of gimmicks or shortcuts, Kansas must attack the real problems:
✔️ inaccurate valuations
✔️ lack of spending discipline
✔️ weak appeal protections
✔️ poor transparency
✔️ inconsistent appraiser performance
Here are 13 meaningful reforms I have championed (alongside Commissioner Jeff Blubaugh) that would make Kansas fairer and more accountable:
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1. Create a Taxpayer Advocate Office
A genuine advocate who:
• Helps taxpayers understand valuations
• Assists with appeals
• Ensures respectful, professional interactions
• Records informal hearings to prevent intimidation or misinformation
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2. Fix the appraisal errors
The appraisal error band is enormous. This is the reason we hear about double-digit increases for some properties. Some homeowners pay far too much. Others pay far too little. Inaccurate appraisals shifts the tax burden unfairly.
We need:
• Better data
• Access to MLS
• More comps, fewer replacement-cost methods
• Required use of current sales within days, not years
• Systematic error detection
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3. Trigger automatic review of any valuation spike >5%
If an appraisal jumps significantly:
• A senior-level appraiser must review it
• The burden of justification is on the government, not the taxpayer
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4. Offer a Condition-Based Appraisal Option
A homeowner can request:
• A skilled, in-person evaluation
• Corrections
• Restitution (tax credit) if errors are found
This protects taxpayers while deterring frivolous cases.
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5. Reinstate a REAL Tax Lid
With no loopholes.
Budget growth limited to:
• Consumer Price Index (Inflation)
• Plus, new construction
And nothing more.
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6. Replace tax lid elections with a simple protest petition
A petition can be done in 30 days.
An election takes 60+ days and often cannot meet the tax calendar.
The people deserve fast, effective control over runaway spending.
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7. Create a Hearing Officer Panel (HOP)
After the informal appeals but before the Board of Tax Appeals (BOTA), a local 3-member Hearing Officer Panel (HOP) can review the appeal and fix valuations quickly and professionally.
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8. Require BOTA to resolve cases within 12 months
If not, the taxpayer automatically wins. (The backlog is years currently).
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9. Reform the Appraiser Office
Kansas should allow:
• Appraisers with people skills
• More flexible hiring
• Better leadership
• Actual accountability
Many states elect their appraisers. Kansas could at least require leadership, not bureaucratic coldness. The technical skills of the appraiser can be acquired within 2 years of selection whereas the people-skills and leadership skills must be mastered when selected.
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10. Move appraiser offices under the State Property Valuation Division (PVD)
This eliminates:
• Accusations that counties pressure appraisers to raise valuations
• Inconsistencies across counties
• Varying standards from one jurisdiction to another
The Constitution requires uniformity. A state-run system would deliver it. (Currently there are local rules applied that cause unfairness from county to county).
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11. Post all appeal and valuation data online
Full transparency builds trust. A data dashboard to provide the public with appeals data will make this process more transparent and accountable.
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12. Divide the total tax bill by jurisdiction into two bills — Local Tax & Education Tax
This is a huge reform. Some states split the ‘purpose’ of each tax bill to provide greater understanding of what services each tax payment is funding.
December bill:
All local government taxes (city, county, cemetery, township, etc.)
May bill (labeled the “Kansas Education Tax”):
All school-related taxes (USD general, supplemental, bond, recreation).
This:
• It shows taxpayers exactly where the money goes
• Forces accountability in the education system
• Eliminates the myth that “the legislature isn’t funding schools”
• Provides transparency like no other reform
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13. Educate taxpayers with clear information in each bill
A simple flyer showing:
• What specific services are funded with each tax bill
• What changed since last year
• Why the amount is what it is
Transparency reduces frustration.
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📌 SO WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
Assessment caps are popular — but they are not the right solution.
They:
• Violate the Kansas Constitution
• Create permanent unfairness
• Shift burdens
• Disconnect valuations from reality
• Fail to control spending (spending is the reason taxes are out of control, not accurate appraisals)
Spending controls + accurate valuations = REAL reform.
Kansas needs:
• A protest petition that gives the people control
• Accurate appraisals with effective methods to fully fix overvalued properties
• Transparent data
• Better appeals processes
• Accountability
• Two tax bills for clarity
• A system that treats every taxpayer equally at 11.5% (This example is for residential)
We do not need a constitutional amendment that will lock Kansas into a flawed system we may never be able to correct.
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📌 FINAL THOUGHT
Every year we hear:
“Assessment caps are the only option.”
That simply isn’t true.
I have provided 13 better, fairer, constitutional solutions ready for 2026 that would actually fix the system. They protect taxpayers without breaking the Constitution or shifting burdens onto your neighbors.
Kansas deserves real reform — not political shortcuts.
I will continue advocating for policies that:
• Restore fairness
• Increase accountability
• Demand accurate valuations
• Empower taxpayers
• Control spending
• Protect constitutional uniformity
And above all, ensure that Kansas property taxes are transparent, predictable, and fair.
If you have questions or want deeper explanation, I’m happy to provide it — this is too important to get wrong.
I am attaching my personal tax bill to illustrate that more than 47% of my tax bill is related to state and school whereas 53% is local. Sedgwick County provides 46 independent agency services (16 of 46 are mandated by the state) and cities typically provide another 15 services. The spending challenge is the real problem. People demand more and more while clamoring for less taxes (less spending). This math has to balance. Everyone needs to pick a side. I will challenge you to review the county budget (https://www.sedgwickcounty.org/.../2026-adopted-budget/) and recommend places to trim the budget. BTW, I do this constantly and I am never going to knowingly tolerate wasteful or frivolous spending. As a conservative, I cam report to you that this county is incredibly conservative. Case in point is that Johnson County spends 2.6 times more than Sedgwick County for 20% more residents. We will continue to drive to more efficiency but we cannot just not levy taxes and provide the services you demand and expect.
