Platte County commissioners last week reached an agreement with the Missouri State Tax Commission (STC) regarding property tax increases for 2025, but the county assessor doesn’t think this is a victory for county taxpayers.
According to a press release issued late last Tuesday, a negotiated agreement that requires the county to raise all residential property values 6.835% over the 2024 assessed values was reached. The STC originally ordered Platte County to increase property values by 15 percent.
Commissioners say this compromise increase aligns more closely with actual home price increases, which were roughly 7.75% per year from 2019 through 2024 and represents a significant reduction from the STC’s original order.
“This agreement is a clear victory for Platte County taxpayers, as it substantially reduces the financial impact of the STC’s initial directive,” Presiding Commissioner Scott Fricker said. “With very little leverage and very little time, we were able to secure a better deal for Platte County taxpayers that reflects more realistic property value increases.”
On Monday, Aug. 25, Platte County Assessor David Cox fired back, criticizing Fricker’s comment.
“Scott Fricker calling a 6.8% increase in residential property values a ‘victory’ is insulting to the intelligence of all Platte County homeowners,” Cox said. “It is outrageous that the State Tax Commission’s order signed by our Board of Equalization (BOE) does nothing to correct the discriminatory values still on the books. Many residential properties, including two of the three BOE members’ own properties, are still far below the values their neighbors’ properties have now been raised to.
“This disparity is not corrected by simply raising everyone 6.8%. The goal in assessment is equity between properties, and no such equity is achieved through a flat raise in values across the board.”
The commission’s press release continued, stating, the imposed valuation increase circumvents the traditional data-driven assessment process used by Missouri assessors for decades, replacing it with arbitrary valuations dictated by the STC that impact all property owners regardless of the actual increase in individual property values.
Fricker said the commission, with support from other county officials and the BOE, engaged outside counsel and led negotiations with the STC to arrive at this agreement. Their efforts secured a compromise that protects taxpayers from a more difficult financial burden.
“While we’re pleased with this outcome, we’re deeply troubled by the way property tax assessment oversight is handled at the state level,” Fricker said. “We believe voters should have the authority to judge whether elected officials are serving the community effectively and then make their opinions known at the ballot box. So we now turn our attention to working with the governor and our state legislators to enact meaningful reforms to the property tax assessment and oversight process, ensuring a fairer and more transparent framework for all Missourians. At the end of the day, Missouri needs a consistent, predictable property tax system that doesn’t price people out of their homes.”
Cox, who has accused members of the Board of Equalization of conflicts of interest and showing favoritism, continued questioning the BOE’s motives in his statement.
“No attention has been given to the ludicrous commercial property reductions this BOE has implemented, including some commercial properties owned by one of the BOE members himself,” Cox said. “Many commercial values were reduced to $0 by this BOE in 2023, which included several industrial leaseholds held by private companies at the KCI Airport. These private companies have been paying property taxes for years and are not city owned as Scott Fricker has misled the public to believe.
Other substantial reductions, just to name a few, include major grocery stores, retail outlets, hotels and a utility company. The average value reduction of commercial properties appealed in 2023 by this Board was 67%. These reductions live on year after year forcing residential property owners to pay the difference.
“Until the State Tax Commission corrects the actions of the BOE itself, our county will continue to suffer from incompetence by both the BOE and the County Commission.”