Rising property valuations and resulting tax increases were recently discussed before the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals (BOTA) in Topeka.
Property owner Anthony Mahoney and Russell County Appraiser David Gillmore each stated their case before the state board; Gillmore, the method he used to determine the property valuation and tax assessment, and Mahoney, the error he found in those calculations.
Following the hearing, Mahoney, in his second appearance before the board in the last two years, cited the lack of transparency in property valuation and taxation:
“It is difficult to explain to the taxpayer how valuations are derived. The tax appraiser has several methods he can choose from. Rural homes in the county are valued through the Cost Approach. A value based on today’s cost to rebuild is provided by Marshall & Swift, as they are theoretically the experts nationwide. The county appraiser then gets to decide what percentage a property has depreciated over time to come up with a “fair market” value. Most properties in the cities use the Market Approach because there are many actual sales to validate the value. Wished I had a slick-talking attorney like our county appraiser gets to use for free. (Attorney Michael Montoya was paid by Russell County to represent Appraiser Gillmore) I believe it is pretty cut and dried regarding the horrendous homesite valuation increases of 373.7% in 3 years. Perhaps I was not clear, but the issue is that the homesite (which is simply the land property that the home is built on) has been erroneously calculated based on the evidence presented.
“The other issue was that in 2022, the BOTA agreed that I had persuaded them that there were problems with my home, unlike other similar, aged homes. The appraiser told the 2022 BOTA he changed my Condition/Desirability/Utility rating (CDU) from average down to fair because of all the negative problems. Thus, the reduction of 35K in valuation. Today, the appraiser could not account for this deduction value. As I tried to point out to the board, this reduction could not be accounted for in 2024 because the evidence clearly reflects there has never been a change in my CDU rating – it has always been rated FR (Fair). It will be an interesting read on how the BOTA sweeps me under the rug again. In my opinion our county appraiser really wants to be in compliance with the state so badly – he is backing in numbers with purported sales of properties that are not the same as rural farm properties. Especially when focusing just on the value of the land that the home is built on – the Home site.
We reached out to Appraiser Gillmore to answer Mahoney’s contentions, as well as explain how he arrived at the valuation of the Mahoney property. We received this response from Russell County Administrator Stephanie Grisham:
“The Russell County appraiser arrived at Mr. Mahoney’s valuation by following state and nationally accepted appraisal techniques. In addition, he has strong statistical numbers backing his analysis. I think we all understand not wanting property taxes to increase, but the valuation process is done by a specific formula. We went through this same legal process with Mr. Mahoney two years ago and it was determined that the county followed proper protocol. The appeal process is certainly Mr. Mahoney’s right, but defending these lawsuits is also costing taxpayers thousands of dollars in a time when the county is doing all it can to cut expenses and provide citizens with the best services possible.”
BOTA is expected to issue its decision by the end of the year.
