The Swartz Report: 2025 Year in Review

By Donald Swartz, President

As 2025 comes to an end and we set our sights on 2026, I want to express my appreciation to all the employees that make Swartz & Associates, Inc. (SAI) and Indurante & Associates, Inc. (Indurante) be the companies they are. 2025 was a very challenging year in many respects. Our teams are keeping things in order and ensuring we’re taking care of our clients in the world of property taxes.

Finishing my 39^th year of property review and analysis, I’m not quite sure I’ve experienced a year quite like this.

Kansas City

The reassessment in MO, particularly Jackson County (Kansas City), kept us on our toes and the interim Jackson County Executive ordering a roll back on all commercial properties with valuations less than $5,000,000 only added to taxpayers’ confusion.

Iowa

We continue to find the court systems backlogged from shutdowns related to the Covid years. Several Iowa appeals from the 2023 tax year are finally being scheduled for hearing and our 2025 cases which have been appealed to District Court are not being set for hearings until 2027 and early 2028.

Nebraska

The Nebraska Tax Equalization Review Commission (TERC) continues to be delayed in issuing decisions. We presented a case before TERC in the fall of 2023 and we have yet to receive a decision notice…

Indurante

Earlier this summer we were notified one of our large Indurante clients was set be acquired at the beginning of 2026 and another large client declared bankruptcy.

Should I do my best ostrich imitation and stick my head in the sand?

This does not really fit my personality or my approach to handling challenging situations 😊 And here’s why:

We continue to work in our client’s best interests; we know what we are supposed to be doing and I believe we do our work very well.
We have strong and long-lasting relationships with our client base. This is invaluable in a service industry business. We are so grateful and appreciative of our clients.
Our pipeline of cases under appeal is significant, and when the opportunity to hear/try our cases take place – we will be ready!
Our work environment remains positive; looking forward to what’s ahead as opposed to dwelling on what has transpired in the past.

Looking forward to 2026

Looking ahead to 2026, the power of networking and meaningful touches with clients, friends and prospects is extremely impactful and I cannot stress this enough to my employees. It’s easy to hide behind an email and it takes effort to go above and beyond. I want us to continue to meet, have lunch or coffee, Teams/Zoom, conference calls, whatever is necessary to keep our clients abreast of situations relating to their properties and their businesses.

I look forward to building new relationships; strengthening current ones and reconnecting with prior touches. If we continue to do things the right way, I am optimistic that 2026 will be an exciting and fulfilling year!

Happy New Year to everyone and please let me know how we can assist you. As always, please reach me at or . Or, as I mentioned above, you can call me – (913) 766-8761.

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!