Archive for category: General Information

By Donald Swartz, President

April 8th was a significant day on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metro area as voters were asked to approve many bond issues in multiple cities, spanning Jackson, Platte and Clay Counties. While North Kansas City and Lee’s Summit Bond initiatives had no impact on the property tax levy, other cities planned to finance the bonds with mill levy increases.

Let’s look at a few areas more closely.

Kansas City

Voters approved a general obligation bond focusing on building new schools, major repairs to several existing schools and converting a closed former high school to a middle school. The impact of this bond passing will raise property taxes approximately $230/yr on residential appraised values of $200,000. Commercial properties, which have a higher assessment ratio in the calculation of property taxes, will raise property taxes on a similarly valued $200,000 property approximately $390/yr.

Independence

Three initiatives were brought forward to taxpayers, totaling just under $200MM. While two of the three initiatives failed, voters did approve the $55MM bond for the repair and rebuilding of certain city streets. This will have an impact of an additional $64/yr for residential properties valued at $150,000 and $108/yr for similarly valued commercial property. The median listing price for a residential property in Independence currently is $215,000 and the median sales price is $210,000.

Park Hill

The General Obligation Bond has two components, Proposition O and Proposition G. Both passed, raising $128MM. These bonds are school related, increasing teacher’s salaries and making necessary improvement to the schools in the district. Passing this initiative will increase the property taxes on a $300,000 residence by $228/yr and similarly valued commercial properties $384/yr.

In all situations, it is very important to recognize your situation. Do you own commercial or residential property in the areas identified above? Do you receive the assessment notices or are they issued to your mortgage company?

Bottom line, you need to be cognizant of your current appraised county value to determine your actual impact. 2025 is a reassessment year in Missouri and valuation notices will be issued in the upcoming weeks. The formal appeal deadline to contest your property tax values is July 14^th. Knowing the mill levy increases will occur later this year, now is the perfect time to review your property tax values to insure you are paying only your fair share.

Please reach out to me if we can be of assistance. 

Swartz + Associates, Inc. (SAI) is a full service property tax firm specializing in the review, analysis and appeals of real and business personal property tax valuations. If you need help with your property taxes, give us a call!

By Keith Sherman, Business Development at Swartz and Associates

When you have an idea, how do you capture it in the moment? Do you jot it on a Post-it^® note, napkin, whiteboard, or type on your phone? Maybe you keep a notepad on your nightstand. Or what happens when that idea happens mid-shower?

I love a good ole pencil with a legal pad or notebook, I might even doodle a bit on it as well. Many people record their thoughts on their phone. We all have different ways of capturing an idea and the key is not letting it slip away. It might just become the next big thing, make someone’s life better or find its way to the trash, physically or electronically.

Sure, there are instances that you go back to that note and wonder what on earth you were thinking. Yet more often, it inspires a meaningful idea and marks a moment in time or provides thoughts for future exploration.

Regardless of your method, it all comes down to the content created. Is it relevant? Does it make the person smile, teach a lesson, spark a thought, or ignite a debate?

Once you’ve captured that thought or idea, take a moment to refine it (so when you go back you know what you meant!), explore its potential, and determine how it can make an impact. Whether small or significant, every idea deserves a chance to evolve and make its mark despite what you wrote it on.

Write on!

By David Swartz, Business Development at Swartz and Associates

In May 2023 I became a member of the Des Moines A.M. Rotary because this group not only supports critical needs in our community, but also hosts great speakers who share fascinating topics of interest. Equally important is the chance to meet and learn from so many fun and interesting people.

The Rotary motto – Service Above Self – accurately represents this wonderful group.

Each spring, the Des Moines A.M. Rotary features a Founder’s Day meeting, allowing members a chance to showcase their business or interests. What a perfect opportunity for a relatively new member like me to share the Swartz + Associates story!

But let’s be real – who wants to learn about property tax appeals at 7 a.m. on a 2-degree morning… when you could roll over in bed and stay warm or attend a potentially more scintillating presentation by other members? My thought was – ‘make this fun and interactive’.

Is the Price Right?

To spice things up, I shared four relatable examples of properties we appealed and asked the attendees to guess – ‘Is the Price Right?’ after a similarly named TV game show. Everyone was a winner in our game and walked away with a practical understanding of the discrepancies and nuances one may point out when negotiating for a properly valued property.

Thanks to the Denton Davis Brown Law firm and Rotarian Amy Montgomery for co-hosting the event at the firm’s office. A testament to long term partnerships – our relationship with the Dentons Davis Brown Law firm goes back nearly 40 years when Don fought and won one of his first Iowa appeals all the way to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Fostering long-term relationships within our community and maintaining an honest approach to meeting new, like-minded people continues to be a great model for sharing our story.

Let me know how we can help you with your property tax valuations!

By Donald Swartz, President

Recently, I attended the WIN for KC annual luncheon. The Women’s Intersport Network for Kansas City is part of the Kansas City Sports Commission and was created to “empower the lives of girls and women through advocating and promoting the lifetime value of sports and fitness, while providing opportunities for participation and leadership development”.

This year’s featured speaker was Caitlin Clark and as a fellow Hawkeye and Des Moinesian (sure, this can be a word😊), we sponsored a table for the event to hear Caitlin speak. Additionally, we went to an event the previous event to listen to a one-on-one conversation with Sophie Cunningham.

While I consider myself well versed in most matters related to sports, I will admit to the fact I was naïve to the breadth and scope of Sophie Cunningham. After the event, my wife and I called our son to tell him about the evening. “You saw Sophie Cunningham??? She is amazing!!! And the number of followers… unbelievable”.

Wow, I had no idea! However, this was just the beginning as we attended the luncheon, where we were introduced to the Kansas City area women’s high school state champions over the past year in their particular individual and team sports. This Parade of Champions was impressive. It was then followed by six recognition awards. All were truly inspiring and incredible stories. To me, these stories were as impressive (if not more impressive) then the Caitlin Clark interview. The event was so well attended, the venue was moved to the T-Mobile arena where over 4,000 people attended. What a day!

Don. What does this have to do with Swartz & Associates and Indurante & Associates?

Good question and thank you for asking!

I do not use my blog for political purposes and do not take controversial stances. However, after attending this event and listening to how these young women are learning confidence and believing there is nothing they cannot achieve, I find our current political environment very distressing in the efforts to encourage women to focus on the role of homemaker and wife.

If a woman chooses this path, I fully support her decision. My mother raised my brother and I and I believe she feels there is no more important job in the world – that was terrific for us. However, this does not imply it is for everyone and I fully support women in the workplace; voluntary, business, in an elected capacity – whatever path a woman chooses is their absolute right and no one should dictate otherwise.

I am surrounded by strong, smart and capable women.

I learned a long time ago, if you want to be successful, surround yourself with people smarter than yourself. For me, it started with my marriage 😊and continues today with my children in their professional worlds.

It very much extends to my workplaces at Swartz & Associates and Indurante. I am very fortunate to have Katy True, Deb Bartnett-Johnson, Noelle Giacomino, Kristen Canfield, Emma Danielian and Tyler Niimoto who play incredibly important roles within my companies. We would not be in business without them and the event reinforced this aspect. All are married and juggling the famous “work-life” balance and I am so appreciative of their efforts.

Looking forward to a busy and successful 2025 and I am so glad my “team” includes these strong women.

As always, please reach out to me with any questions or comments, work or otherwise – or .

By Keith Sherman, Business Development at Swartz and Associates

2024 was a year of heartfelt moves for me.

In early December of 2023, my beloved Dad passed away at the age of 98. A life well lived indeed.

I was delighted and honored to be asked by my older sister and brother to eulogize this incredible man, my mentor, my hero, my Dad. So, as you might imagine, I spent that month interviewing family, friends and researching what my Dad stood for, accomplished and legacy he left with us. We had a celebration of life in early January 2024 at Temple B’Nai Israel in Little Rock, Arkansas, where I grew up.

During this same period, I was still in the afterglow of our first son getting married, the wedding officiated by one of my best friends since 1980, David Swartz. On top of that, I was considering stepping away from almost four decades in the marketing and advertising business. Talk about a full range of emotions!

There are no strangers.

Dr. Jerome Kalman Sherman (Jerry as most folks knew him) lived life to the fullest. He never met a stranger, he loved meeting people and building relationships, he was always curious and finding ways to make a difference in their lives. Reflecting on his life reminded me to do the same in both my personal and professional life.

I took these lessons to heart when my dear friend David Swartz called me to see if I would be interested in joining him and his brother, Don Swartz, at Swartz + Associates, and I accepted the opportunity. Working with folks I’ve known for decades, and incorporating the things I enjoy most – building relationships, making a difference, being true to myself, learning and continuing to lead a life of service – was a perfect fit.

Love, Kindness and Introspection

Today, I have been with Swartz + Associates for over a year, thriving by reconnecting in a big way to my hometown, Dallas-Fort Worth, and other markets where I’ve lived, worked and made a difference. It’s fun, fills my soul and I am good at it. Oh, did I mention that the newlyweds just bought a home in Kansas City, where Swartz + Associates has its home office?

Not only has it been a year of significant change, but it has shown me what a difference love, kindness and introspection can create.