Ask 狐狸视频 County Assessor Jake Zimmerman about the company Property Assessment Review (PAR), and he doesn鈥檛 mince words.
鈥淧AR is an entity that seeks to exploit the property tax system for their wealthy clients at the expense of everybody else,鈥 Zimmerman says. 鈥淓ntities like this are bad for tax fairness.鈥
Zimmerman鈥檚 harsh analysis sets the tone for an ongoing Sunshine Law dispute between the Clayton-based company and his office. It comes just as tax assessment notices are arriving in homeowners鈥 mailboxes, with many likely showing double-digit increases.
The company has long been an annoyance to the assessor鈥檚 office. Every two years, PAR and its residential arm file thousands of commercial and residential appeals to the Board of Equalization, arguing that Zimmerman鈥檚 office was too high in its assessments.
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There are several other companies in the 狐狸视频 area that offer similar services, but PAR is the biggest. Homeowners and commercial building owners hire PAR on a contingency fee basis. The company makes its money by splitting any proceeds from a reduction in property taxes with clients.
But to do its job, just like any individual homeowner, PAR first has to ask the county for the records that produced the assessments, including the 鈥渃omps鈥 that show how one house in a neighborhood compares to others. In other words, the company asks the assessor鈥檚 office to show its work. In the past, that鈥檚 never been a problem, says PAR鈥檚 co-founder, Steve Weber.
鈥淕enerally we file a Sunshine Law request. We鈥檝e gotten them at very minimal cost,鈥 Weber said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e always made them available to us.鈥
This year, Zimmerman鈥檚 office said no.
On Feb. 1, PAR filed a request seeking the comps, the personal record cards for each house showing at least a 15 percent assessment increase, and the preliminary values determined by the assessor鈥檚 office.
PAR was told the preliminary values would be posted online by March 15, and the county denied access to the other information, writing: 鈥淥ur Office does not have any public records responsive to this request. I鈥檓 told that Missouri law only requires our Office to deliver public records that exist; we are not required to create records in response to your request.鈥
The assessor鈥檚 office position was that the information hadn鈥檛 been created yet in a 鈥減rintable鈥 form, so the office didn鈥檛 have to provide the documents.
鈥淧AR would like very much for the county to do their work for them,鈥 Zimmerman says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 work for PAR. I work for the taxpayers. In some cases, those records don鈥檛 exist yet. It鈥檚 not my job to make their business model easier.鈥
Not long after the denial, Weber heard from some competitors that they had received some of the documents PAR requested.
鈥淭hat infuriated us,鈥 Weber says, 鈥渢hat they were making them available as one-offs to taxpayers who had requested them, yet they wouldn鈥檛 produce them for us. If they were producing them for some taxpayers, we certainly had the same right to get them.鈥
Weber upped the ante. He hired attorney Mark Pedroli, whose Sunshine and Government Accountability Project has made a practice of taking government bodies to task for violating the state鈥檚 open-records law. On Monday morning, Pedroli sent Zimmerman and 狐狸视频 County Counselor Dana Redwing a letter encouraging them to release the records PAR requested.
鈥淗omeowners throughout 狐狸视频 County won鈥檛 respond well to learning 狐狸视频 County is concealing their appraisal methodology under a strained interpretation of the Sunshine law,鈥 Pedroli wrote. 鈥淭ransparency is a core American value. The Missouri Sunshine law is very popular with 狐狸视频 County constituents, and nothing is more important than their homes and commercial businesses.鈥
Weber also sent Redwing an email. He noticed that they were neighbors. Weber took a look at Redwing鈥檚 preliminary assessment online and suggested that if she wanted to challenge it, under the current information Zimmerman鈥檚 office was making public, she wouldn鈥檛 have access to the information she needed.
PAR received most of the records it had asked for on Monday afternoon. Zimmerman say the county鈥檚 response had nothing to do with the letters.
鈥淎t this point, all the personal record cards have been printed,鈥 he said. 鈥淲ithin 24 hours after they were printed, these guys got their records.鈥
Now comes the hard part. If past is prologue, PAR will file nearly 10,000 protests of tax assessments. Many of those appeals will fail, county officials allege, based on past practice.
Challenging assessments isn鈥檛 easy, either for an individual homeowner or a company that does it regularly. PAR has been in business in 狐狸视频 County since 2009, getting its start after the crash of the real estate market during the Great Recession. It also challenges assessments in several other counties.
狐狸视频 County is the only one that has made it difficult to get public information, Weber says.
鈥淚 know we鈥檙e a thorn in their side,鈥 Weber says.
But he believes his company is an important check on government overreach. 鈥淲hen your taxes go up, the burden of proof is on the assessor.鈥
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