Audit: Kansas public universities and foundations hold nearly all real property tax‑exempt, but donation records are missing

Auditors told the committee that Kansas' seven public universities and their foundations owned about $4,500,000,000 in real property in 2024, of which about $4,400,000,000 was tax exempt — roughly 98% of the total appraised value.

"About 98% of the appraised value of Kansas' 7 public universities and their foundation's real property was tax exempt in 2024, but we don't know how much of that real property was donated to universities because most universities don't keep that information," auditor Sam Dads said. The audit relied on university and foundation self‑reported ownership reconciled to county appraiser records; auditors could not always identify taxable property held by related foundation entities.

Auditors said foundations reported owning about $123,000,000 of exempt property (≈3% of the exempt total). According to the report, foundations said they purchased 73% of their exempt parcels, 18% were exchanges with universities (sometimes requiring legislative approval), and about 8% were donated or had undetermined acquisition methods.

Because universities typically do not track the acquisition method for exempt parcels, the audit did not attempt to quantify precisely how much exempt property was donated. Auditors placed details about university and foundation holdings in appendix C and acquisition notes in appendix D.

The committee accepted the audit and asked KDOR and the Board of Regents for follow‑up information as part of ongoing transparency and data‑quality work.