Free Legends concert planned tonight

A free Live at the Legends outdoor concert is planned from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, July 1, at The Legends Lawn.

Scheduled to play tonight is the band, “Quite Frankly,” which plays high-energy rock music.

The Legends Lawn is located on the west side of the Legends Outlets, near the smokestack. Those attending may bring their lawn chairs. The Legends Outlets is located near I-435 and I-70 in Wyandotte County.

Kansas Supreme Court reverses property tax decisions favorable to Walmart, Sam’s Club

Legal issue involves Johnson County’s controversial valuation of big-box stores

by Tim Carpenter, Kansas Reflector

Topeka — The Kansas Supreme Court waded into a simmering dispute in the appraisal industry over valuing real property of big-box retails stores Friday by overturning lower court decisions faulting Johnson County’s evaluation of nine Walmart Inc. and two Sam’s Club stores.

The state’s highest court rejected a 2021 decision of the Kansas Court of Appeals and a previous ruling by the Kansas Board of Tax Appeals that found for Walmart. Those courts said the commercial buildings should have been valued at what each would sell for if empty or “dark” rather than at what the retail companies paid for construction, land and improvements on those sites.

Walmart took legal action to challenge methods used by Johnson County that resulted in appraisals nearly double previous values for the same properties.
The case raised questions about whether standards set forth in law by the Kansas Legislature were appropriately applied.

After receiving Johnson County’s appraised value of the 11 properties, Walmart sought intervention of the state board of Tax Appeals. BOTA lowered valuations of each property and ordered Johnson County to refund overpayments for the 2016 and 2017 tax years.

Johnson County appealed to the state Court of Appeals by claiming BOTA incorrectly interpreted state law and that BOTA’s decision wasn’t reasonable. The divided Court of Appeals, however, determined BOTA appropriately adhered to Kansas law. That took the case to the state Supreme Court.

In Kansas, statutory provisions related to taxation must be construed in favor of taxpayers. The taxing entity is required to assume a hypothetical sale on the open market of the property on Jan. 1 of the applicable tax year. And, fair-market value is the amount an informed buyer was justified to pay and an informed selling would be justified in accepting.

Kansas Reflector stories, www.kansasreflector.com, may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
See more at https://kansasreflector.com/2022/07/01/kansas-supreme-court-reverses-property-tax-decisions-favorable-to-walmart-sams-club/
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Injury-accident reported on I-70

An injury-accident was reported at 2:40 a.m. Friday, July 1, on westbound I-70 near the 57th Street exit.

According to a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper’s report, a Ford Mustang and a Chevrolet Equinox LT were westbound on I-70 when the Ford struck the Chevrolet from behind.

The Ford then struck the concrete median barrier twice before coming to a rest, the trooper’s report stated.

The driver of the Ford, a 27-year-old man from Hillsboro, Alabama, had a possible minor injury, according to the trooper’s report.

The driver of the Chevrolet, a 39-year-old man from Sugar Creek, Missouri, had a possible minor injury and was taken to the hospital, the trooper’s report stated.