Small-town owners press Kansas committee for valuation limits as residents cite steep property‑tax hikes

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 percent cap on valuation increases, a senior freeze at age 65 for qualifying households and a 100 percent exemption for qualifying veterans.

Wayne Allison, an Oklahoma attorney with experience in that state’s property‑tax caps, testified by videoconference that Oklahoma’s experience shows caps are politically durable and do not produce the dire outcomes critics predicted. “Doing nothing … is not an option here,” Allison said, describing Oklahoma’s adoption of a five‑percent cap in 1996 (later adjusted for certain classes), which he said passed with large majorities and did not trigger the worst‑case scenarios opponents forecast. He suggested several middle‑ground options, including splitting a valuation increase between property owners and local taxing authorities and subjecting larger local tax increases to voter approval.

Committee members raised tradeoffs between property caps and other revenue sources; Representative Courtney between tax sources observed that Kansas’s statewide average sales tax (6.5 percent) is already high and that shifting revenue to sales taxes could be regressive. Witnesses emphasized the effect on seniors and small businesses in rural counties where assessment changes have outpaced state averages.

Why it matters: Witnesses presented data showing very large valuation changes in many counties between 2021 and 2024; Riedel told the panel that 84 percent of Kansas voters experienced valuation increases of 25 percent or more in that window and 99.8 percent saw increases of 10 percent or more (figures presented by a citizen conferee). Those county-level valuation shifts are already prompting local budget and mill-levy changes and a broader discussion of whether the state should limit local valuation increases or change exemption and appeals processes.

What lawmakers asked for: Members asked for further study of options used by other states (Allison discussed Oklahoma’s experience) and for staff to model the fiscal implications of caps or other restrictions on local revenue authority. Committee staff said the panel will continue the discussion in November and requested additional data about the distributional effects of any proposed cap, whether caps would be applied to assessed value or to taxes levied, and how to preserve local decision-making while limiting sharp increases for residents.