CASS COUNTY, Mo. — The majority of Lee’s Summit is in Jackson County, Mo., but a very small portion lies in Cass County — a portion that was forgotten by the tax man.
It’s the southern part of Raintree Lake that has slowly been developing over the past 15 or more years, house by house. The tax appropriation remained coded to Cass County, but it’s in the city limits of Lee’s Summit.
Over the years, these taxes were applied to the wrong jurisdiction. The mistake was discovered during a field audit by the Missouri Department of Revenue. The misappropriation added up to almost a million dollars over the past three years, which is all the statute of limitations allows the Department of Revenue to correct.
“If a bank would misappropriate funds and put it into an account and yours was the one that got shorted, would you be willing to do that?” Lee’s Summit Mayor Randy Rhoads asked. “[To] say, ‘Oh well, I had enough for this year.” We really gotta try to get that money.”
There is a court battle between Cass County and the Department of Revenue over the repayment of the misappropriated tax money, so the Cass County Commissioner has declined to comment.
Read more from the Lee’s Summit Journal.
