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Small-town owners press Kansas committee for valuation limits as residents cite steep property‑tax hikes
Summary
Small‑town owners and an out‑of‑state expert told the committee that rapid valuation increases are forcing businesses and some homeowners to pay sharply higher property taxes, and they urged the enforcement of existing rules and consideration of caps on valuation growth.
Ellen Riedel, a Seward County property owner and realtor, told the Special Committee on Taxation that she and other small‑town property owners face sudden and large assessment increases that threaten businesses and senior homeowners. “I don't know how I'm going to stay in business,” Riedel said while describing a downtown commercial building she renovated that saw a jump in assessed value leading to a 492 percent increase in her tax bill between 2022 and 2024.
Riedel told lawmakers she paid the disputed tax “under protest, hired an attorney,” and then discovered Senate Bill 13, which she said bars general maintenance from increasing a property’s valuation. She urged committee members to “enforce laws that are already on the books like Senate Bill 13” and recommended a 3…
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