IN THE COUNTY LEGISLATURE OF JACKSON COUNTY, MISSOURI
Title
A RESOLUTION requesting the Kansas City, Missouri School Board to voluntarily roll back its 2007 operating levy to account for increases in assessed valuation in the Kansas City School District due to the 2007 reassessment.
Intro
RESOLUTION # 16298, May 21, 2007
INTRODUCED BY Henry C. Rizzo, Dan Tarwater, Scott Burnett,
James D. Tindall, and Dennis Waits, County Legislators
Body
WHEREAS, 2007 is a reassessment year in Jackson County and throughout the state of Missouri; and,
WHEREAS, as a result of reassessment it is anticipated that the assessed value of real property within many taxing districts, including the Kansas City School District, will increase significantly; and,
WHEREAS, so that taxing jurisdictions do not enjoy a windfall revenue increase as a result of reassessment, Article X, section 22 of the Missouri Constitution (the Handcock Amendment) provides that, if an increase in assessed valuation exceeds the increase in the consumer price index (CPI), taxing jurisdictions must roll back their tax levies so that the result will be that their increase in revenue does not exceed the increase in the CPI; and,
WHEREAS, in 1998, Missouri voters amended their Constitution again (Art. X, section 11 (g)) to give the Kansas City School District and its Board the authority to set its own levy, without voter approval, so long as the levy rate is lower than the federal court-ordered rate for the 1995 tax year; and,
WHEREAS, the District has interpreted this provision as superceding the rollback requirement of the Hancock Amendment, so as to allow the District to maintain its levy at its current level, without regard to significant increases in the District's assessed valuation; and,
WHEREAS, the Legislature believes the District should roll back its levy to provide its resident taxpayers at least some relief from increases in property taxes resulting from reassessment, and suggests that a modest rollback over a period of four years, in the amount of the annual CPI, would be appropriate; now therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the County Legislature of Jackson County, Missouri, that the Legislature hereby request the Kansas City Missouri School Board to roll back the Kansas City School District's property tax levy over a four-year period in an amount equal to the then most recent increase in the consumer price index, if the District's total assessed valuation after reassessment would result in annual increases in District revenue in excess of that amount.
Enacted and Approved
Effective Date: This Resolution shall be effective immediately upon its passage by a majority of the Legislature.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
______________________________ _______________________________
Chief Deputy County Counselor County Counselor
Certificate of Passage
I hereby certify that the attached resolution, Resolution # 16298 of May 21, 2007 was duly passed on May 21, 2007 by the Jackson County Legislature. The votes thereon were as follows:
Yeas ________7_________ Nays _____0______
Abstaining ______0_____ Absent ______2______
______________________ _________________________________
Date Mary Jo Spino, Clerk of Legislature