By Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — The secretary of the Kansas Department of Revenue offered to create within the state agency the job of ombudsman to provide information and guidance — not legal counsel — to Kansans interested in representing themselves in property tax appeal cases.
Secretary Mark Burghart said Tuesday during an interim tax committee meeting of the Kansas Legislature that the objective of the extra employee would be to better prepare individuals interested in contesting county property tax valuations that were heard by the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals.
The idea of an ombudsman was raised in September by Kristen Wheeler, chair of the state tax appeal board, in response to dramatic growth in the board’s caseload.
The concept received a positive response from several legislators, including Sen. Caryn Tyson, a Parker Republican who chairs the interim House and Senate tax committee. She urged Burghart to begin preliminary planning for the hiring of an ombudsman. She suggested the task might be done without the 2026 Legislature adopting a bill specifically granting the revenue department permission.
“It sounds to me like you could actually implement this without statute,” Tyson said. “I think that would be the ideal solution.”
Kansas has more than 2 million individual taxpayers, Burghart said. The Board of Tax Appeals, or BOTA, during the 2024 fiscal year reported an increase of 700 cases on its general appeal docket. There were 300 additional property tax appeals and 300 more appeals related to tax exemptions.
“This position is important. It think it’s needed. It does make sense to me that it live in the Department of Revenue,” said Sen. Craig Bowser, R-Holton. “Why do we have a large number of tax appeals right now? It’s because our taxpayers are surprised with very large, unexpected tax bills. So, they appeal.”
Burghart said the Department of Revenue currently had an individual responsible for general taxpayer advocacy. A person dedicated to property tax affairs should initially be limited to an educational role that involved assisting taxpayers with their understanding property valuation procedures and BOTA’s appellate process. The ombudsman could explain deadlines, required forms, evidentiary expectations and appeal options.
“The creation of this position, initially framed as an educational and navigational resource rather than a legal representative, would be one way to help expedite appeals before BOTA by improving the quality and completeness of taxpayer filings,” Burghart said. “That, in turn, supports the Legislature’s objective of addressing BOTA workforce and caseload concerns.”
“We would make it abundantly clear that we are not giving legal advice,” the revenue secretary said. “The ombudsman would not serve as the legal representative of any taxpayer … and would not advocate for specific valuation outcomes in individual cases.”
Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, questioned whether the Department of Revenue could unilaterally initiate an ombudsman program. Burghart said adding a new staff position to the agency could be worked into the budget, which already included personnel assigned duties associated with assisting taxpayers.
“It’s helpful for that to be part of the discussion so that people understand, when we’re talking about new employees, how that happens,” she said.
Burghart said the Legislature had options in terms of shaping the work of an ombudsman or advocate dedicated to property taxation. The person could be informally added to payroll in the Department of Revenue or the individual could be located in a newly created state office founded, which would require passage of a state law.
The ombudsman also could be established as a law school clinic led by students or as a nonprofit affiliated with the Kansas Bar Association, he said.
He said an ombudsman should be appointed by the state revenue secretary after consultation with the chair of the Board of Tax Appeals and the revenue department’s director of property evaluation. It’s not necessary to include the post among jobs requiring Kansas Senate confirmation, he said.
If the program proved beneficial in terms of BOTA’s case docket or processing times, Burghart said, the Legislature could consider broadening the ombudsman’s role into direct representation or formal advocacy of taxpayers in BOTA proceedings in which counties were involved in the cases.
If the Legislature chose to deepen the ombudsman’s role regarding property tax cases the personnel should no longer be based within the revenue department, he said.
Wheeler, the BOTA chair, said the taxpayer assistance position must be filled by a person with specialized expertise in taxation appeals.
She said BOTA was neutral on whether the position needed to be located at BOTA, but “parameters of the position and its location deserve further consideration and debate.”
She said it was unlikely the state could quickly implement a student-staffed taxation legal clinic at law schools at University of Kansas in Lawrence or Washburn University in Topeka.
“Even if there was interest in this type of clinic, it’s likely that creation of a clinic would take substantially more time than creating a staff position,” Wheeler said.
