Forum for Lower Business Property Tax Announced

Clay County Presiding Commissioner Jerry Nolte, County Auditor Victor Hurlbert and County Assessor Tracy Baldwin have concerns about the county’s surtax on commercial property. They will be hosting a forum to discuss the issue and possible solutions on March 2 at the weekly Coffee Connect Forum.

A third option would be to gradually bring the property tax down - Clay County Presiding Commissioner Jerry Nolte

Currently the tax on commercial property in Clay County is $1.59 per $100 in assessed valuation and generates $17.8M for the county. The Missouri average sits at about $1.02 while the commercial property tax in Platte County is currently $0.36 per $100 in assessed valuation. Clay County’s business tax rate is the third highest in the state, behind St. Louis and St. Louis County.

Commissioner Nolte appeared on Kearney Live last week to talk about the issue. Two possible solutions that were discussed were to reduce the county’s budget to allow for the lower tax rate, or draw on different sources to make up the difference.

Nolte believes that because Clay County is the fifth fastest growing county in the state, there is potential to offset a lower business tax rate as the county grows.

“A third option would be to gradually bring the property tax down,” said Nolte. “Because we are a very dynamic and growing county, that starts to make up the difference. If we can create a formula to where that is the way it works, I think we can do it. We can work out how to do that in a way that has a less dramatic impact.”

The Coffee Connect forum is hosted every Wednesday at iWerx at 1520 Clay Street in North Kansas City. Networking begins at 7:45 with an hour-long program beginning at 8 am. The county commercial property tax issue will be the topic at the March 2 forum.