Funny Violation (Possibly) of the Sunshine Law in Greenwood

By David Stokes on Apr 14, 2011

Greenwood, Mo is a suburb of Kansas City with an amusing example of a legal disclaimer run amok on its website. Please carefully read the top of the “Taxes and Fees” page of their website: http://greenwoodmo.com/taxesfees.aspx

“Below is the latest rates for the taxes listed. These rates are subject to change without notice.

Greenwood Sales Tax Rate is 7.350%

Mill Levy is $1.0173 per $100.00 of assessed valuation”

I like how this standard legal disclaimer for a million different claims (“These rates are subject to change without notice”) is so totally wrong here. In fact, in order to change “these rates,” you need a fair amount of notice. You need a properly scheduled and publicized meeting, a legislative bill that is introduced and given time for public comment or debate, and a duly elected board to cast a recorded vote following the rules of state law and the city charter. This does not even take into account Hancock Amendment requirements, which, in many cases, would require a vote of the public at an election in order for the rates to be increased.

So, in fact, I’d say that “these rates” are absolutely NOT subject to change without notice, and changing them WITHOUT notice is quite illegal.