MO - Jackson County tax foul-ups are just tiring

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GREG CLARK: MO - Jackson County tax foul-ups are just tiring

By GREG CLARK - Columnist Date: 12/05/00 22:30

I'd like to say I'm outraged.

I'd like to say I'm disgusted.

I'd like to say I'm so mad that I'm ready to pop a blood vessel.

But truth is, I'm just weary.

Will these guys ever get it right? Will Jackson County ever learn to do the most basic functions of government? Will it ever get the personal property tax statements -- in the right amounts -- sent at the proper times?

Unfortunately, we know the answers to those questions.

Last week county officials announced that they had sent incorrect tax statements to the owners of more than 118,000 vehicles. Business as usual.

Think about the magnitude of that number. That's almost 4.5 times the number of cars that park at Arrowhead Stadium for a sold-out Chiefs game. That's so many wrong statements that every man, woman and child in Independence could receive one -- with a few left over.

And we thought last year was bad when they sent statements late to a paltry 14,000-plus residents.

That kind of ineptitude is good reason to feel outraged, disgusted and mad. But I don't. It's what I -- and thousands of other Jackson County residents -- have come to expect from our county government.

The only outrage comes when I listen to county officials say that many of the incorrect bills resulted from taxpayers sending in incomplete descriptions of their vehicles.

Excuse me, but if a person received a correct bill last year -- a longshot, I know -- why should he not expect a correct bill again this year?

Who's to blame? Start with the folks who organize and run the billing program.

Then add Katheryn Shields to the list. She's the county executive and is supposed to make sure programs and duties are administered correctly. After last year's debacle, you'd assume she'd spend 24-7 at the courthouse this year to make sure we didn't face another fiasco.

Then add all the county legislators. They're the ones whom the residents entrusted with making sure Shields and company do their jobs.

Then point a finger at the voting public. We're the ones who put those folks in office.

MDNMUnfortunately, fallout from such messes doesn't end with the expense of wasted staff time and mailing costs. It ends with inadequate services, shoddy facilities and worn-out infrastructure.

Because residents don't trust the county to do things right, they ignore pleas to fund more deputies, repair county buildings and build courthouses.

Those all are worthwhile causes. And the county wrapped them up in a $144 million bond package that it gave to voters in April. Sixty-one percent of the voters threw it back.

Sure, some people vote no on every tax, but I'll bet a lot of those no votes came from people frustrated over personal-property foul-ups. And in the wake of last week's announcement, you can understand why.

I just wish all of this nonsense would end.

I'm so tired of it.

http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/zone.pat,local/3774f632.c04,.html?pageID=zBlueSprings

-- Doris (nocents@bellsouth.net), December 13, 2000


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