The Kansas Constitution (Article 11, Section 1) stipulates that “the legislature shall provide for a uniform and equal basis of valuation and rate of taxation of all property subject to taxation.” But that is not happening, according to several witnesses testifying about property tax before the Special Committee on Taxation last week.
Jennifer Williams, a Miami County tax accountant, offered a 58-page analysis of what she described as the manipulation of property values in her county based on six conclusions:
1. Property valuations for “base acre” in the algorithm used by Miami County are consistently inflated by using data that is not substantiated by comps (or consistent with neighboring counties), and this is confirmed by BOTA (Board of Tax Appeals) in December 2024 – Page 3 of her testimony.
2. In 2023, the land value per base acre nearly doubled. In 2024, the evidence of an “algorithm” appraisal appeared as land values increased, home values decreased, while keeping a steady 5% on average total increase (6% in 2025) – Page 16 of her testimony.
3. At least one appraiser is appraising “for the future” instead of in arrears for past market behavior– Page 37 of her testimony.
4. Actual sales are being inflated immediately upon sale, by month, to be used for comps at the inflated price. Properties selling in real-time should not be inflated by an arbitrary percentage to be used as a comp for other properties. This is not reflective of true market value. If the property was worth the inflated price, it would have sold at the inflated price. Many are being inflated at 12% per year on average, over sales price, when NAR (National Association of Realtors) and KCRAR (Kansas City Regional Association of Realtors) show an average annual appreciation closer to 6% – Page 41.
5. Due to a lack of similar properties in the rural area, the “comparability” numbers on the comp sheets are often times greater than 100 or even 200 – when the report explanation claims 0-50 is a great comparable, 51-100 is a good comparable, 101 or more is NOT a good comparable. – Page 50.
- Farm agriculture savings are being diluted, with tax market value being greater than actual market value, due to the three variables in the county’s control (farm site land, home, ag buildings) being inflated above actual market value. – Page 52.
Williams adds that the failings of the appraisal system in Miami County are worsened by the conduct of the county appraiser, evidenced by an appearance before the county commissioners this summer:
“One commissioner asked, ‘May we review your data that you’re putting into the software because we’ve had an unprecedented number of appeals, and the people are winning the appeals?’ And she dug in her heels and said, ‘No, I’ve been using these numbers for five years. I play with the models all the time, and I’m very happy with my numbers.’”
Williams summarized the issue for residential landowners:
“There’s too much waiting, opinions, and not enough listening and recognizing. If you can play with those numbers in order to come up with designated outcomes, predetermined outcomes, no longer are we looking on a historical system of facts.” Her testimony begins here.
Property tax impact on small businesses
Business owner and consultant Eric Estes shared several anecdotes of the devastating impacts that rising property assessments can have on businesses large and small:
“So, my friend had to close his store in Hutchinson, Kansas. He closed it, and I asked him for permission (to speak about it). ?He said I could use the name of his brand, Five Guys Burgers, and he closed it because he got a tax bill for $68,000 on his Five Guys and $20,000 on another business, and he said that was the entire profit for the year. So he shelled that LLC. We lost Target in Reno County, we lost Panera Bread, a friend of mine in Manhattan. We lost a great John Deere dealer. You just lost a dealership in Lawrence, Kansas, and Douglas County. That was a massive tax bill.”
Estes’ testimony begins here:
Taxpayers demand reform
Dave Trabert, CEO of the Kansas Policy Institute and The Sentinel, provided the House and Senate members with charts illustrating the lack of uniformity on residential valuations, and how property tax increases are simply not affordable to many Kansans.
For example, appraisals in Linn County jumped 66% over the last three years, but only 19% in adjacent Bourbon County. Barber County homeowners saw values increase by an average of 13%, but the adjacent counties of Harper and Cowley experienced a 42% increase.
Trabert also provided legislators with a county-by-county comparison of changes in residential values between 2021 and 2024, with the changes in per capita income from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis for the last three available years (2020-2023).
The state average shows a 32% jump in assessed valuation, but only a 19.5% increase in per capita income, meaning the average homeowner has had their assessed value increase 60% more than their income. Homeowners in 17 counties saw values rise more than three times as fast as their income. Per-capita income declined in Wallace County, but home values jumped by 25%.
Trabert also shared the results of a statewide public opinion survey conducted this month, demonstrating an overwhelming desire for reforms.
One question tested voters’ reaction to constitutional amendments to limit annual valuation increases considered this year in the House and Senate, finding that 75% of taxpayers want an amendment and only 13% disagreed. Among those who want an amendment, 66% prefer a fixed percentage limit while 17% prefer a rolling average of prior years’ changes.
A strong majority, 82%, also want an annual limit on the taxes a city or county can collect without some form of voter input, like a protest petition or a super-majority vote of elected officials; only 12% are opposed.
Taxpayers’ views on these issues are very similar across all ideologies and geographical regions.
Trabert concluded with a summary of the polling data:
“It’s really clear where the public thinks we need to go. Obviously, there were perhaps some flaws you heard about in the appraisal system. There are maybe thousands of flaws to try to address and put some protections in. Your constituents don’t have time for us to figure all that out. They’re unaffordable today. And so we do need to do something today to provide relief for taxpayers.”