CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. — Marty McGuire will not take the Camden County Assessor’s Office until September of 2017, but when he does, he says he wants to undo some of the controversial re-assessing work that has been done by current assessor Kayla Henry, if such a reversal is possible.
McGuire ran against Henry on—among other things—the promise that he would stop the current practice of assessing residential homes that are rented on a short-term basis, at a Commercial rate. “I took a stance on this issue,” McGuire said, adding, “This isn’t a practice I plan to continue.”
At Lake of the Ozarks, many waterfront home owners utilize their property as a vacation spot throughout the year, and then rely on revenue from renting the house to other vacationers when they’re away. For some, that revenue is what makes owning a Lakefront home affordable. The Commercial reassessment takes a chunk out of those revenues, as Commercially assessed properties pay 68 percent more in property tax than if their property had been assessed as Residential (32 percent versus 19 percent).
But one question being asked by some homeowners: can residential properties that have been assessed as Commercial be reverted to a Residential assessment (and tax rate)? McGuire says he is not sure about that, but will speak to the State Tax Commission (the oversight board for assessor’s offices) about a reversal process. He said he will pursue a way to reassess those properties, if it is possible.
McGuire will go through quite a bit of training from the State Tax Commission. That training process is why newly elected assessors have to wait an additional nine months after the new year to take office.
