‘We’re tired of this’: Sedgwick County homeowners are seeing an increase in home valuations

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Home valuations are arriving in mailboxes across Sedgwick County.
Nearly 150,000 people will see an average increase of 10%, meaning they’ll pay more in property taxes.

Sedgwick County Commissioner Ryan Baty says there’s a bill being debated in Topeka for a property tax lid, and the county is working on adjusting its upcoming budget to provide some relief to homeowners.

“I think that people in this community, we’ve met a threshold, so there’s a lot of conversations happening about how do we relieve pressure,” said Baty.

Baty says after seeing a similar situation in 2023, he believes there are services currently paid for by taxing homeowners that could paid with other funds.

“Most of them are public safety, public health, public works, and things that maybe aren’t public safety, maybe some of the quality of life investments that we make here, maybe those need to be funded not from property taxes, but from sales tax,” said Baty.

Haysville resident for decades Linda Johnson says her home appraisal has raised over $40,000 in the past three years. She says the increase is causing her stress when it comes time to pay property taxes.

“I’m a widow, I live on social security, and what little I get from the retirement, so it really made it hard on me to try and pay that increase in taxes,” said Johnson.

It’s a similar situation for Toni Titus. She says it is important to know your rights as a homeowner.

“You have the right to appeal that it may or may not bring a great deal of reduction in that price, but at least it’s going to start sending a message, ‘Hey, we’re tired of this,'” said Toni Titus, a real estate agent in Sedgwick County.

Baty hopes there will be a property tax lid in Kansas eventually. He believes commissioners will consider all their options in budget talks later this year.

“We’re not going to settle for just passing through property tax increases. We’re going to really work hard on this budget to make sure we’re not grabbing all that assessed value growth through these increased property valuations,” Baty,

Homeowners have 30 days to file an appeal after receiving your appraisal.