BY KYLE TROUTMAN ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com

A total of 14,644 letters from Barry County Assessor Sherry Smith’s office have been delivered to property owners in the county, informing them their real estate value for 2025 has changed.

Smith said since the mass mailing on June 9, her office has received more than 600 calls and walk-ins combined seeking more information on why the hike is occurring and how it may relate to SB190, a property tax freeze opportunity for seniors voters approved in April.

“The majority of people have been understanding, and it helps that I put the memorandum of understanding in there with the real estate value letter,” Smith said. “The State Tax Commission (STC) mandates over me, and they are requiring us to increase the property values.”

When one of the more than 27,000 parcels in the county sells, Smith’s office sends a sales letter requesting information on the sale, with a small percentage of those letters making their way back.

“When I get one back, I enter that information into our appraisal software to use for analysis,” she said. “We perform a sales ratio analysis four times per year, and we’ve come in too low.”

Using the data gathered by Smith’s office, the STC requires the property ratio to be between 90%-110%. Barry County, Smith said, was at 74.35%, and the STC directed the county to raise values for 2025.

“Barry County WILL work on bringing them back into compliance or face consequences,” the STC told Smith’s office.

Smith said the directive forced her to raise values or risk losing state funding — to the tune of about $89,000 — or the state taking over the process and likely raising values higher than she would like. Smith’s office does not receive general revenue from the county. Its budget is comprised of the state funding ($3.30 per parcel for about 27,000 parcels), GIS subscription sales, map sales, property record card revenue, and two withholdings from the county collector’s office for tax bill preparation (a 1% withholding and a separate 0.5% withholding capped at $75,000).

To avoid any potential loss of funding or state takeover, Smith said she raised values, on average, about 10%.

“That still only gets us to the 84%-85% range, which means we are still out of ratio tolerance,” she said. “We can only change values every two years, so I will watch the market and go from there.”

By remaining close to the 90% number, Smith hopes any further increase would be minimal, or, if the real estate market drops, a subsequent hike would be null if values dropped enough to put the ratio into compliance.

Smith said for those looking at the hike and looking to determine how much it will be, a general rule of thumb is to add about $50 for every additional $1,000 in assessed value. Those who believe their property is valued too high also have an opportunity to challenge the figure at the Board of Equalization meeting annually on the third Monday in July.

“I have been an assessor since elected in 2008 and starting in 2009, and I’ve only had one Board of Equalization appeal, and that was EFCO in Monett, so, I’m pleased with the work my staff does regarding valuation,” she said. “Most of the time, when I ask a property owner if they would sell today for the market value we list — they say no.”

Smith said the response to the hike has kept the three phone lines in her office busy, with more than 600 people calling or visiting to pose questions. The vast majority of those individuals, Smith said, inquire more about SB190 than the value change.

SB190, which voters passed in April, directed the county to set up a framework for seniors to apply for a property tax freeze. Skyler Bowman, Barry County collector, is charged with creating that framework, awaiting software installation in 2026 before sending applications to property owners county-wide.

The framework will also allow applicants to make the freeze retroactive to 2024, meaning while property owners who turned 62 in 2024 will have to pay this year’s hike, the values and rates will revert to 2024 figures once approved for the freeze. Those who turn 62 this year will have their rates frozen at the 2025 amounts. The difference will be given as a credit on the qualified taxpayer’s bill.

“Although [those who were 62 and older as of 2024] will pay a higher tax bill this year, they can still retro back to 2024,” Smith said. “The majority of people understand that, and we’re appreciative of that.”