Assessor's Office
Buchanan County has over 40,000 parcels of land on the real tax roll and over 110,000 articles of personal property that have to be valued each year.
The Assessor is an elected official responsible for developing and maintaining a current list of all taxable real and tangible personal property in Buchanan County. However, the Assessor's work is subject to review by the County Board of Equalization and the State Tax Commission. The State Tax Commission is the state agency charged with general supervision of Assessors in Missouri and with enforcing property tax laws. (State Tax Commission FAQ)
We have the difficult task of preparing an annual assessment roll that accurately reflects the value of all taxable property within the jurisdiction.
The Assessor totals the assessment roll typically by July 1st of each year. Those numbers are turned over to the Buchanan County Clerk who then distributes the assessment information to the various taxing districts within the county. Taxing jurisdictions such as city, state, school, park, library, fire and road districts adopt budgets after public meetings over the assessment values for their district. Taxing districts typically set their budgets and levies by the end of September each year. The Buchanan County Assessor is not part of the taxing district's budget or the levy process, the Assessor's job was completed with the reassessment process. The levies set determine your taxes for the year. The taxes you pay are proportionate to the value of your property compared to the total value of the taxing district in which your property is located.
if you have a question about paying your tax bill
Contact the County Collector with questions regarding:
- Not receiving one or more statements
- General questions concerning the collection process