Jackson County to vote on electing, not appointing, assessor

Zoom in: Question 1 asks if voters want to elect the county assessor instead of letting the county executive appoint them.

• A yes vote would make the assessor an elected position with a four-year term and a three-term limit, starting in 2028.
• The ballot measure was passed by the county legislature in July, overriding former County Executive Frank White's veto, 7-2.

Catch up quick: Property values in recent years increased by more than 600% in some cases, sparking outrage that led to White's recall and a new cap on assessment increases.

• County assessor Gail McCann Beatty has said properties were long undervalued.
• Interim County Executive Phil LeVota called the large jumps in value a "fiction."

The intrigue: Legislator Sean Smith, who voted to oust White and appoint LeVota, tells Axios he's been pushing change at the state and local level since 2024.

• A resolution to lobby Missouri legislators to make assessors elected statewide was dropped in April 2024.

Between the lines: Jackson County is the only county in Missouri that doesn't elect its assessor.

• St. Louis County was in a similar boat in 2007 and 2008, when the State Tax Commission documented overvaluation concerns and high rates of appeals.
• The state law was amended, making the St. Louis County Assessor an elected position to add "accountability and transparency" to the assessor's office in St. Louis, per the bill's co-sponsor, Eric Schmitt, a state senator at the time.

What they're saying: Legislator Sean Smith, who voted in July to put the question on the ballot, tells Axios "voters should have direct authority to elect their assessor so that future assessors will be more accountable to the public," echoing Schmitt 15 years later.

• "We've lost the public's trust, and this is one step in restoring that trust," Smith says.

The bottom line: Tuesday's vote is the culmination of years of public anger over property taxes — and could reshape how Jackson County operates.