KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The deadline to file a formal appeal for your property tax assessment in Jackson County is looming because the deadline is Monday, July 29.

Kip Wendler is still trying to wrap his mind around the huge jump he saw on this year’s property tax assessments.

“I mean, I don’t even know how to talk about this,” Wendler said. “It’s so ridiculous.”

“We try to clean up whole areas of the neighborhoods east of Troost and they increased those taxes,” Wendler said. “And we have no idea why.”

Wendler has several plots of land near Linwood and Forest. One of them worth $615 last year is now listed at $6,000. That’s a ten-fold increase and adds more than $1,000 to his tax bill in just one year.

Another one of his properties rose in value from $6,000 to $16,000. He owns 12 in Jackson County and filed formal appeals with the Board Of Equalization for all of them but at a cost.

“I’ve done the legal, correct things in getting my property ready, but it’s cost us 150 hours of work, it’s put my men out of work for the last two three four weeks, we’ve turned down jobs, stuff’s not getting done, no other affairs are being taken care of.” Wendler said.

Real Estate Agent Stacey Johnson-Cosby is taking time out of her busy schedule to help others through the appeal process. She says the first step is alerting homeowners of what’s happening.

“Many of the people we’re seeing their properties are evaluated too high,” Johnson-Cosby said. “It’s simple erroneous information that the county is using to come to the values.”

As a former member of the ‘BOE’, Johnson-Cosby put together a team of experts to hold community workshops. They’ve help more than 150 people file compelling appeals.

You can do that by taking pictures of some of the problems with the property,” Johnson-Cosby said, “If it’s on a block that’s high crime or if you have vacant homes next to you or anything that would drive down the value of your property.”

She worries if the property tax assessments stand, people will lose their homes.

“Plus a lot of investors and landlords will either have to raise their rents to cover the increased cost or they’ll sell their properties,” Johnson-Cosby said.

At this point, Wendler said selling his properties could be a real possibility, but not at the amount they’re valued in this year’s assessment.

“The really think people are just going to pay these taxes?” Wendler questioned.

If you filed a formal appeal, what’s next? The County says “the Board will notify you of the date, time and location of your scheduled hearing. More information can be found here: https://www.jacksongov.org/155/Appealing-Assessments