By Morgan Chilson, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — The COVID-19 pandemic, staff turnover and surges in filings created a backlog of cases at the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals, challenging the organization’s ability to meet statutory requirements for timely rulings.
County appraisers have seen increased delays in resolving some tax appeals, and although they don’t blame BOTA employees who are working to clear delays, they are concerned about the effects on taxpayers.
“Given that high property taxes are a major concern for Kansans, this remains a highly sensitive matter for all parties involved,” said Douglas County appraiser Brad Eldridge. “Providing timely due process in property tax cases is essential, yet it requires additional funding, creating the difficult reality that ensuring fairness and efficiency comes at the cost of more taxpayer dollars.”
In January 2025 budget testimony to the Legislature, BOTA chair Kristen Wheeler said in Fiscal Year 2024, the board saw an increase of about 700 cases in its Regular Division, as well as an additional 300 cases in its exemption tax appeals and 300 cases in its property tax appeals.
The BOTA comprises the Regular Division, in which cases are heard by an appointed, three-member board, and the Small Claims and Expedited Claims Division, which offers informal, faster processes.
More than 11 different kinds of tax appeals are heard by BOTA’s board or staff, from property tax exemption requests to homeowners upset about their property taxes and unable to resolve the issue at the county level.
Jonathan Roberts, BOTA executive director, said they receive as many as 50 or 60 requests for tax exemption appeals every day.
“It takes at the minimum a half-hour to hear each of those requests,” he said. “When you start to compound those, it creates a monumental task to get through every one. It’s just a matter of the requests coming in exceed the time available to hear them.”
During the legislative budget process, the state board requested and received $30,000 to hire contract employees to help get caught up. BOTA also asked for $25,000 to increase attorney salaries because they currently are below what their peers receive for similar work. A long-term vacant position contributed to delays.
“The Board is currently recruiting to fill a vacant staff attorney position; the Board would note that position has been posted since the fall and to date, despite active advertising, the Board has yet to have a single applicant,” the budget request said. “The Board notes the starting salary for that position is below other starting-level attorney positions advertised for other state entities.”
Roberts said a new information technology system being installed is expected to help with processing.
“We’re engaging in some things within the office to help with workflow and things like that, but given the sheer number of some of the cases that we have in front of us, it’s not going to clear them all up right away,” Roberts said.
Depending on the cases, the board faces statutory requirements regarding the time to hear and decide cases. In small claims, cases must be heard within 60 days of filing and decided within 30 days after that. So far, BOTA staff have been able to meet that deadline, Roberts said. In the Regular Division, the board must render a decision after a hearing within 14 days, although requirements vary depending on the case.
In testimony, BOTA reported the percent of 14-day summary decisions issued timely in the Regular Division, with a goal of 100%. After three years of missing that goal, the organization is moving back on track.
In FY2019 and FY2020, BOTA issued decisions within 14 days 100% of the time. In FY2021, they dropped to 93%, and in subsequent years 91%, 90% and 99%. BOTA reports 100% for FY2025 so far.
Lucky DeFries, a Topeka tax attorney who has been trying cases in front of the board since the late 1970s, said his clients haven’t faced significant delays. He and opposing counsel often reach agreement in the case, so it moves through the system quickly.
DeFries remembers when there were 58 employees at BOTA. Today, there are 16 when they’re fully staffed, he said, noting the retirement of a longtime attorney and another staff member on medical leave.
“We’ve seen across the country steady increases in the valuation of residential property. That’s where a lot of the appeals come from,” DeFries said. “The numbers of employees have gone down precipitously and the case load has either increased or stayed pretty static.”
The delay in hearing tax appeals affects county operations statewide. Eldridge said the slow process consumes time and financial resources. The challenges began during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Schedule delays were a result of hearing cancellations in 2020,” Eldridge said. “In 2020-2021, there was turnover in BOTA positions, and they went several months without having a full board to hold hearings. BOTA essentially did not hold any Regular Division hearings for about one year.”
If BOTA finds in favor of the individual, organization or business in a tax appeal, the county must refund any taxes that were paid, based on that appeal. Eldridge said interest is paid on refunds, with the percentage varying depending on the year the appeal was filed.
In Crawford County, Jan Meredith, office supervisor, handles tax exemptions. Like Eldridge, she understands the issues that have been delaying tax appeals and is sympathetic. Still, she doesn’t recall delays as long as they have been in the past two to three years.
Tax appeals filed in 2023 have recently come through the system and been cleared, she said, and that puts her small county near to caught up. Meredith tells taxpayers filing an appeal that it likely will take four to six months until they receive decisions from BOTA, so any appeals filed in the past six months she doesn’t consider delayed.
Larger counties tend to see a more significant impact. In its budget report, BOTA said most of its small claims appeals in FY2024 were received from Johnson County (576), Morris County (345), Sedgwick County (448) and Wyandotte County (608).
“Douglas County has matters before the Regular Division of BOTA going back to 2021 that are scheduled to be heard this year,” Eldridge said.
In Johnson County, spokeswoman Anne Christiansen-Bullers said appeals go back more than seven years.
“The Kansas Board of Tax Appeals has approximately 1,500-1,600 pending appeals involving property in Johnson County for tax years 2018-2024,” she said.
It’s difficult to determine exactly how far behind tax appeals are, said Terri Yamashita, BOTA board secretary. More complex cases, which are often appeals over large tax amounts owed or commercial cases, sometimes have multiple attorneys involved and many filings.
For instance, in the regular hearing division where cases go before the BOTA, commercial business owners often want to get their own appraisals done, she said. That can cause delays. BOTA staff normally try to schedule a hearing within at least five months of the filing, but it could be seven to eight months, depending on the case.
Some cases lingering in the system are delayed because parties don’t get the proper information submitted or for reasons out of BOTA’s control, Yamashita said. Each type of tax appeal has different statutory requirements to meet.
The number of appeals asking for tax exemptions is one of the more challenging areas, although those don’t have to go to a full board hearing, she said. Exemptions and the majority of tax grievances don’t go to full hearings but are managed in the small claims division.
Grievances include cases that are about clerical errors or penalties that have been assessed on someone who didn’t file taxes on time, she said.
Those issues absorb staff time. BOTA recently contracted with an additional staff person to help clear exemption cases. In testimony, the BOTA board said that its hearings of Regular Division cases suffer when they receive influxes of small claims cases because staff attorneys shift to do that work.
“Not only do these staff attorneys have less time and resources available to work on other matters, but they are unavailable or difficult to schedule to assist with Regular Division hearings,” the testimony said. “Undoubtedly these factors all contribute to greater than necessary resolution times for matters in the Regular Division.”
