JOPLIN, Mo. — Missouri housing prices are up, which means your property assessment is too, leaving many to worry if that will lead to a bigger property tax bill at the end of the year.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what my taxes are going to be, but whatever it is, it is what it is,” said Cheryle Finley.
Jasper County home owner Cheryle Finley has seen the changes in the housing market. She’s bracing herself for a bigger property tax bill this year.
“…so I’m sure they may probably increase. But if they do, that’s because my house is worth more,” said Finley.
Jasper County alone saw total property assessments grow by more than 150 million dollars, which translates to a lot of property worth a lot more money.
“You know a lot of people really scared that they got the impact notices and that their property taxes are going to skyrocket,” said Jasper County Clerk Charlie Davis.
But those increases are limited by Missouri’s Hancock Amendment which limits tax increases not approved by voters.
“…to what the consumer price index increases so this year is 1.4% so we’re actually going to have to roll back our levees, as well as the schools, the fire districts etc…” said Davis.
Like the Joplin school district, which is proposing a drop from 2.798 to 2.75.
“It’s almost three tenths of a percent decrease, but it’s a decrease nonetheless, everything else goes up over time and it’s great to see that our taxes will go down a little bit,” said Jeff Koch, Joplin School Board President