Jackson County’s Property Tax Settlement Is Put at About $250 Million, and Two New Websites Now Show Each Homeowner’s Estimated Credit. But, as of September 29, No Judge Had Signed the Deal, and the Official Class Website Still Lists a Trial — and People Who Moved Will Get Just 45 Days to Come Forward.

At a Taxpayer Update Town Hall in Independence on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, County Executive Phil LeVota unveiled two lookup tools, KCTV5 reported: JCGIS.Jacksongov.org/propertyinfo and JacksonMOcredit.Devnetwedge.com. Owners enter a parcel number or address and see what their credit will be, spread over the next three years. The county’s own home page links its “Tax Credit Information” tile to the first address; the second is a “Jackson County Property Tax Inquiry” page built by the vendor DEVNET, whose footer read “Data updated: 2026-07-30” when we opened it on October 1.

Three things to know before you rely on the number:

• It is an estimate. KSHB quoted LeVota telling the crowd: “What you see on the website is going to be an estimate. Your final tax credit will be on your bill and your bill is coming in November.”
• An asterisk is not a zero. According to KCTV5, an asterisk instead of a number means a complicating factor — such as a TIF district or a tax abatement — that the county cannot yet estimate automatically; those parcels are calculated by hand.
• Most owners do nothing. LeVota said that if your residential property was assessed more than 15% over in 2023 or 2024, the credit arrives automatically.

The Jackson County property tax settlement was announced on July 23, 2026. Announced is not approved. KCTV5 reported that day that the deal “still needs to go to court” and that the parties expected “at least two more hearings in court before official notice is sent out by the class administrator.” KSHB reported that it must go before the 16th Circuit Court for review. Two months later, on September 29, KCTV5 reported that the settlement still needs to be codified and signed by a judge, and that notices from the class plaintiffs’ attorneys were expected to go out as soon as the week after the town hall.

We checked the official class notice website, jacksoncountypropertytaxclassaction.com, on October 1, 2026. It still shows only the earlier notice that the class was certified. It says “The Court has not yet entered final judgment on any of the Class’s claims,” its Important Dates page still lists a bench trial intended for November or December 2026, and each of the four court documents listed on its Case Documents page is marked “Coming Soon” (the page also links the full court file on Missouri CaseNet, which we did not search). We found no settlement agreement, no preliminary approval order and no hearing date there. The site’s own FAQ explains what comes next: if the lawsuit results in a settlement, “you will receive an additional notice informing you of your rights and options at that time.”

The county’s credits and the court settlement are two layers. LeVota first proposed the three-year credits in November 2025, and according to KCTV5 the commission order behind them did not itself order refunds or credits. The settlement is what would lock the credits in. LeVota’s own explanation, as reported by KCTV5: a judge’s signature matters because it binds the county regardless of who holds his office in the future.

These are the terms as described by LeVota and McClain on July 23 and September 29; the signed documents were not public when we checked.

• Still own the home: a credit on the 2026, 2027 and 2028 property tax bills. No application.
• Moved, but still in Jackson County: a credit on the bill for your current property.
• Moved out of the county: a direct refund.
• Paid an attorney or appraiser to fight the assessment: reimbursement from a Special Circumstances Fund, which McClain estimated at about $6 million. You apply with invoices or receipts.

The 45-day trap. Movers and special-circumstances applicants have a 45-day window that starts when they receive their notice, according to KCTV5 (KSHB reported LeVota saying movers have 45 days to give the county their new address). The county does not have current addresses for people who sold and left, so the burden is on them. LeVota, quoted by KCTV5: “So the owner is on those people to do it within 45 days, and you get into the pool.” If you owned a Jackson County home in 2023 or 2024 and have since moved, the practical step now is to make sure the class administrator and class counsel have your current address — the official FAQ asks class members to report address changes.

None of the reports we read describes a deposited settlement fund. The $250 million is an estimate of what the county would give up over three years. KCTV5 attributed it to McClain and added that it “still needs to be fully calculated by the county”; KSHB reported that LeVota and McClain believe the impact will be around $250 million over the three years. The number of owners is also an estimate: KCTV5 reported approximately 207,800 homeowners with increases above 15% on their 2023 and 2024 assessments, and on September 29 LeVota put it at roughly 200,000 to 250,000.

McClain’s central claim is that owners will get “100% of what they are owed over those three years.” That is his characterization; no court has ruled on it. Attorney fees are a separate question: KCTV5 reported they “will be determined by the court,” and the official FAQ says class members do not personally pay class counsel — any fee is paid by the defendants or out of a recovery, subject to court approval.

LeVota chose credits spread over 2026, 2027 and 2028 rather than an immediate refund. His stated reason, per KSHB: a single lump credit would likely have devastated schools, cities, libraries and other taxing jurisdictions, while three years minimizes the impact. KSHB also reported that two school districts sued the county over the credit proposal and that LeVota believes the settlement could resolve those issues as well. The County Legislature approved a memorandum of understanding authorizing the settlement by a vote of 8 to 0.

The official notice website lays out the history. Class counsel first sued on June 20, 2023 (Tilton v. Jackson County, No. 2316-CV16440); on December 19, 2023 the Missouri Supreme Court ordered that case dismissed (679 S.W.3d 463). On August 6, 2024 the Missouri State Tax Commission issued an order finding that the county failed to give proper notice of the 2023 reassessment and failed to perform required physical inspections for properties whose assessed values rose more than 15%. On September 4, 2024 the county itself went to court to challenge that order and named taxpayers with pending appeals — the case now docketed as Wheeler v. Beatty. On March 31, 2025 the Circuit Court upheld the commission’s order. Judge Jacqueline Cook denied the county’s motion to dismiss the class case in February 2026, according to KCTV5, and the class was certified on April 2, 2026. The deadline to opt out of the money claims was July 10, 2026.

Class notices in this case do not come from the county. KSHB reported in June that they arrive by email or letter from the law firm suing the county and point to a website run by Humphrey, Farrington & McClain. The class administrator is Analytics Consulting LLC: Wheeler v. Beatty, c/o Analytics Consulting LLC, PO Box 2010, Chanhassen, MN 55317-2010, telephone 888-969-3783. Class counsel’s email for this case is JacksonCoPropertyTaxLawsuit@hfmlegal.com. The official site asks class members not to call the court or the county with questions about the lawsuit. Nobody needs to pay a fee to receive a credit or refund.