ASSESSOR SAYS FRICKER CALLING STATE TAX COMMISSION’S ORDER A ‘VICTORY’ IS ‘AN INSULT TO THE INTELLIGENCE’ OF HOMEOWNERS
The State Tax Commission’s order to increase home values by nearly seven percent across the board is not a win, and Platte County will continue to suffer due to incompetence by the county commission and the county commission-appointed board of equalization.
That’s according to comments this week from Platte County Assessor David Cox.
For starters, Platte County Presiding Commissioner Scott Fricker calling the State Tax Commission’s order a “victory” is ridiculous, in Cox’s point of view.
“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 this week.
“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,” Cox said.
“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,” Cox points out.
The assessor says this disparity is not corrected by simply raising everyone’s value by 6.8 percent.
“The goal in assessment is equity between properties, and no such equity is achieved through a flat raise in values across the board,” Cox remarked.
“Additionally, 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,” Cox said.
The assessor went on to point out there have been other substantial reductions made by the current board of equalization that contribute to the imbalance.
“Just to name a few, they include major grocery stores, retail outlets, hotels and a utility company,” Cox said.
“The average value reduction of commercial properties appealed in 2023 by this board was 67 percent. These reductions live on year after year, forcing residential property owners to pay the difference,” Cox said.
“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,” Cox said.
Cox is in the final week of his time as assessor. County assessors in Missouri take office on Sept. 1. Marcus Farr, who currently works in the assessor’s office, was elected incoming assessor last year. Farr defeated Dagmar Wood in the 2024 Republican primary and was unopposed in the November general election.
BOARD OF EQUALIZATION CONFLICT OF INTEREST ALLEGED
BY ASSESSOR
Platte County’s Board of Equalization–the board that makes decisions on tax appeals–is comprised of Lee Ann Fadler, Fred Pouche and Tom Hutsler.
Fadler said at a recent press conference that when BOE members appeal their own property they are not involved in the decision-making.
Cox views the tax appeals made by BOE members as “a direct attempt by our board members to influence the very board they sit on to make a decision to reduce their tax liability.”
“I believe this constitutes a conflict of interest and a clear demonstration of undue influence being exerted,” Cox said this week.
Cox said two BOE members–Pouche and Hutsler–appealed assessed valuations of their own properties to the board they sit on during the 2023 appeal season.
“To no one’s surprise, the board voted to lower their own values. Mr. Pouche had his home reduced from $211,825 to $187,500, with that becoming the lowest value in his subdivision,” Cox said.
“Mr. Hutsler had one residential property reduced from $502,370 to $465,076,” Cox said.
In addition, Cox said during the 2023 assessed valuation appeals process the board of equalization voted to reduce three of Hutsler’s commercial properties as follows:
*A commercial parcel owned by Hutsler with an assessed value of $776,408 was reduced by 71 percent to $226,788, according to data supplied by Cox.
*A commercially owned parcel of Hutsler’s with an assessed value of $1,719,387 was reduced by 69 percent to $540,617, according to Cox.
*Another commercial parcel of Hutsler’s with an assessed value of $1,116,900 was reduced by 62 percent to $419,840, according to Cox.
“These reductions were decided on despite the fact we had over 15 recent sales that supported the assessor’s value,” Cox said.
“Our state senator (Tony Luetkemeyer) even showed up with no supporting documentation, only saying his house was valued too high. The ‘all knowing board’ immediately lowered his value. No other home in The National was lowered,” Cox said.
THE TAX COMMISSION’S
ORDER
As reported in last week’s Landmark, the taxable value of all homes in Platte County will rise by nearly seven percent over what they were assessed at in 2024.
That’s according to a signed memorandum of understanding between Platte County and the Missouri State Tax Commission. The exact amount of the increase in residential property assessments across the board will be 6.835 percent.
The assessed value increase only applies to residential property. Commercial real estate, farm machinery, and other personal property values are not affected by the agreement.
Per the county’s interpretation, the State Tax Commission had ordered residential properties in the county to be assessed at a 15 percent increase.
While county officials are describing the memorandum of understanding as a negotiated deal, an official with the State Tax Commission (STC) last week described it in other terms.
“In our analysis, the net effect is the same as the equalization order: no increase or no decrease,” said Greg Allsberry, chief counsel for the STC, to the tax commission last week. “But that language is more palatable to Platte County officials, and they have agreed to sign this.”
Earlier this month, Allsberry, chief counsel for the State Tax Commission, told the Weston Chronicle that Platte County officials had misunderstood the state’s assessment order.
In the order, issued on July 30, the State Tax Commission ordered the increase over the “last assessment,” which the county commission interpreted as a full 15 percent increase over the 2023 values.
“They misunderstood the order to raise residential property assessments,” Allsberry told the Chronicle. “The order is based on the 2025 report that shows a 7.1 percent decrease in value of existing homes.”
According to the State Tax Commission’s interpretation per the conversation with the Weston Chronicle, half of the 15 percent increase ordered by the State Tax Commission would just bring the residential property values back to their 2023 level. The other half would bring them closer to their present day values.
“I wish they (Platte County officials) had called me to ask about it,” Allsberry said to the Chronicle. “It was a total misreading of the order.”
That explains Allsberry’s comment that, in the eyes of the State Tax Commission, the “net effect” of the memorandum of understanding with the county is the same as the original 15 percent order.
But Fricker this week disputed Allsberry’s interpretation.
“On an aggregate basis Allsberry is correct. But on an individual property basis, he is 100 percent wrong,” Fricker says.
“I have the assessor’s 2025 database and out of 45,445 residential properties, 45,267 did not decline in value. All of those properties were facing a 15 percent increase in values, but because of the action that we took, they will ‘only’ see a 6.8 percent increase. This argument by Greg Allsberry is misleading, making me wonder about his motivations,” Fricker commented this week.
