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Minutes for HB2584 - Committee on Taxation
Short Title
Property taxation; distribution of taxes paid under protest.
Minutes Content for Mon, Feb 12, 2018
Scott Wells, Senior Assistant Revisor provided an overview on HB2584 noting the bill concerns real estate property taxation paid under protest; amending K.S.A. 2017 Supp. 79-2005 and repealing the existing section Line 21 thru 24. Basically the grounds of protest on assessment of taxes on real estate property, the county treasurer may not distribute the portion of taxes under dispute until the appeal is final. Mr. Scott stood for questions from the Committee.
Representative Dave Baker testified as a proponent for HB2584 stating the bill takes the amount disputed on residential property and it provides that amount to be placed in escrow. Once the resolution is reached, the funds are returned to that person. This bill only addresses residential property and not commercial (Attachment 1). Representative Baker stood for questions from the Committee.
In response to a question from Representative Smith, Representative Baker stated the bill is a fair and equitable solution to a protested valuation without causing a burden to the taxpayer or county government.
Patrick Vogelsberg, Kansas Association of Realtors testified as a proponent to HB2584 (Attachment 2) stating in 2016 a major property tax reform was passed in SB280. Early in the process of SB280 many bills came together and part of the discussion was the issue to set aside the disputed amount under tax protest and was limited to residential property only. The issue on disputed amounts did not make it into SB280. Mr. Vogelsberg stood for questions from the Committee.
Nathan Eberline, Kansas Association of Counties testified in opposition to HB2584 stating the two primary concerns are the length of the appeal process and the risk of counties operating without adequate revenue (Attachment 3). Mr. Eberline stood for questions from the Committee.
Representative Francis requested a timeline and the process of appealing disputed amounts on residential property and the percentage of cases with appeals.
Shilo Heger, Kansas County Treasurers Association testified in opposition to HB2584 stating the bill prevents county treasurers from distributing real estate taxes paid under protest until appeal finalized (Attachment 4). She noted their concern is the way taxes are calculated in which the difference is subject to the taxing unit and taxing jurisdiction the taxpayer is in. The difference will be distributed or not based on the mill levy that represents each tax jurisdiction. Ms. Heger stated cost wise there would have to be software purchased to accomplish this process. Ms. Heger stood for questions from the Committee.
Written testimony submitted by the following in opposition to HB2584:
Thomas Franzen, Johnson County Treasury and Financial Manager, (Attachment 5).
City of Overland Park (Attachment 6)
Trey Cocking, League of Kansas Municipalities testified as neutral to HB2584 stating they have the following concerns: 1) The bill would place the portion of taxes in dispute in escrow without any notification to the city; 2) Cities do not receive notification of disputed amounts and find out when they are required to return funds to the county; 3) It would help cities if the bill included a requirement that counties provide notification to cities and other taxing jurisdictions about pending tax appeals (Attachment 7). Mr. Cocking stood for questions from the Committee.
After asking if there were any other conferees and seeing none, Chairperson Johnson closed the hearing on HB2584.
