The act allows certain counties of the first and second classification to collect property taxes using electronic records and disbursements. County collectors of these counties are required by the fifteenth day of each month to file, with the county clerk and auditor, a detailed statement of all taxes and license fees collected during the preceding month. The act requires payment of current taxes due, in addition to payment of taxes under protest, as a condition precedent to the collector's disbursement of taxes not under protest and the impounding of protested or disputed taxes. Taxing authorities will be required to request notification of current taxes paid under protest by February 1, and county collectors must provide the information by March 1.

Currently, all counties, except counties with a charter form of government excluding St. Charles County, are required to establish a "Tax Maintenance Fund" to be used solely as a depository for funds received or collected for the purpose of funding additional costs and expenses incurred in the collector's office. Under this act, counties adopting a charter form of government after January 1, 2008, will be required to establish such a fund as well.

In the event a county of the third or fourth classification abolishes its township organization, the collector treasurer must assume all duties, compensation, and requirements of the collector-treasurer.

Under current law, assessors in counties without a charter form of government will be required to provide taxpayers with a projected tax liability notice which must accompany a notice of increased assessed value effective January 1, 2011. This act extends the effective date for the projected tax liability notice requirements for assessors in counties without a charter form of government and Jefferson County to January first of the year following the year in which such assessors receive software from the state tax commission which is necessary to provide such notices. For all calendar years prior to January first of the year following receipt of such software, all assessors in counties without a charter form of government and Jefferson County will be required to provide property owners with additional information accompanying the notice of increased assessed value. The notice shall include the previous assessed value and any increase, provide a statement indicating that the change in assessed valued may impact the record owner's tax liability, and provide processes and deadlines for appealing determinations of the assessed value. Such notice shall be provided in a way that alerts the record owner of the potential impact on tax liability and the available appellate processes.

Effective January 1, 2011, the St. Louis County Assessor, must provide taxpayers with a notice that information regarding the assessment method and computation of value for such real property is available on the assessor's website and provide the website address whenever the assessor notifies such taxpayers of changes in assessed value. Such notification shall provide the assessor's contact information so taxpayers without internet access can request and received such information.

The act changes the laws regarding the sale of real property for the collection of delinquent taxes. County collectors will be required to send up to three notices to the publicly recorded owner of record of the real property prior to the publishing of a tax sale with the first notice being by first class mail. If the assessed valuation of the property is greater than $1,000, a second notice must be sent by certified mail. A third notice by first class mail will be required to be sent to the owner of record and the occupant of the real property, if the second notice is returned unsigned.

A collector of revenue or other collection authority may refuse to accept a delinquent tax payment submitted without a copy of the tax statement. If the county collector determines that an adequate legal description of tax sale property cannot be obtained from documents available through the recorder of deeds, the collector may commission a professional land surveyor to prepare an adequate legal description of the property. Costs of the survey will be taxed as part of the sale costs. The assessed valuation of property that can be listed without a legal description or the name of the record owner and published in a newspaper of general circulation for three consecutive weeks prior to sale is increased from $500 to $1,000.

Nonresidents or foreign corporations must sign an affidavit consenting to jurisdiction of the circuit court and appoint an agent for service of process in order to purchase property at a tax sale. The certificate of purchase will be conveyed to an agent if the purchaser is a nonresident, and the agent must convey the property to the nonresident. The highest bid at a sale on the third successive year must be at least equal to the sum of the delinquent taxes, interest, penalties, and costs as it is required when it was initially offered and at the second successive year it was offered. After the third offering, the collector's deed or trustee's deed will have priority over all the other liens or encumbrances on the property sold except for real property taxes.

The purchaser is required to pay a fee to the collector to record the certificate of purchase in the office of the county recorder. If the delinquent land tax sale results in an amount greater than the amount of debt, taxes, interest, and costs, the excess proceeds must be held in trust in the county treasury for three years for the publicly recorded owner or owners of the property sold or their legal representatives. After three years, any amount not called for will be deposited into the county's school fund. The act modifies redemption periods for the owner of record to redeem tax sale property, and the owner must reimburse the purchaser for all costs of the sale including the cost for recording the certificate of purchase, the fee to record the release of the certificate, the cost of the title search and the required mail notifications, interest at the rate specified on the certificate, and any taxes paid by the purchaser plus 8% interest.

Within 120 days prior to receiving a collector's deed, a tax sale purchaser must obtain a title search report from a licensed attorney or title company detailing the ownership and encumbrances on the property. A third offering tax sale purchaser must send to the owner of record and other persons who hold publicly recorded claims on the property notice of the right to redemption within 45 days following purchase. The contents of the affidavit that a tax sale purchaser must provide to the collector before receiving a collector's deed to the property are modified to include the required title search and the 90 days' notice service requirements.

This act authorizes the establishment of the Kansas City Zoological District which may be composed of the counties of Cass, Clay, Jackson, and Platte at the option of the voters of each county. Each member county may impose, upon voter approval, a sales tax of up to one-quarter of one percent for the financial support of zoological activities within the district. The district will be governed by a commission comprised of one member of the governing body of each county that is part of the district; and one member of the Kansas City, Missouri Board of Parks and Recreation. The governing body of each eligible county may appoint one member to the commission which is selected from a list of three individuals provided by the Friends of the Zoo Inc. The lists of three potential members provided by the Friends of the Zoo Inc, may only contain individuals that are at least twenty-one years of age, and resident registered voter of the eligible county to which the list is provided. Members appointed by each eligible county which are selected from the list provided by the Friends of the Zoo Inc will serve four year terms. Eligible charter counties may appoint a member from the list provided by the Friends of the Zoo by a simple majority vote. Eligible noncharter counties may only appoint a member from the list provided by the Friends of the Zoo upon a unanimous vote of the governing body of such county.

The administrative expenses of the district incurred during the first six months after its creation must be appropriated to the commission by the member counties; thereafter, the district will be financed by the sales tax revenues collected and deposited into the newly created Kansas City Zoological District Sales Tax Trust Fund. Five years after its creation, the commission will be authorized to borrow money for the construction, operation, improvement, and maintenance of zoological facilities. The commission must submit an annual report to the governing body of each member county; the Kansas City, Missouri Board of Parks and Recreation; and the Friends of the Zoo, Incorporated detailing the commission's operations and transactions.

The act states that the provisions of Section 262.802, relating to abeyance of water and sewer assessments, will not apply to any drainage district or levee district.

This act contains provisions which are identical to Senate Amendment 19 to the Senate Substitute for Senate Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 580 (2010); the Truly Agreed to and Perfected Version of Senate Bill 588 (2010); the House Committee Substitute for House Bill 1420 (2010); and the SCS/HCS/HB 2297 (2010).

JASON ZAMKUS