SUPREME COURT HEARS ARGUMENTS IN ASSESSOR’S SUIT AGAINST SALINE COUNTY COMMISSION

Attorneys for Saline County Assessor Jessica Adcock Goodman and the Saline County Commission presented arguments Wednesday morning before the Missouri Supreme Court in Goodman’s lawsuit challenging the commission’s funding levels for her office and the classification of Saline County.

Representing Goodman, attorney Richard Hicks argued to the seven justices on the top court that Goodman was not given a chance to amend her petition, seeking one percent of the county’s ad valorem taxes for her office, when her case was dismissed from circuit court last year.

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Hicks says the case shifted from one of budgetary control to the current status of the county when the commission claimed in their move for dismissal that Saline County was not a fourth class county, but second class.

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The claim was reiterated by the commissioners’ attorney, Peter Rottgers.

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Rottgers argues that the statute providing assessors in third and fourth class counties with a greater percentage of tax revenue for their office was written prior to the restructuring of Missouri’s county classifications in 1988.

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Each attorney had 15 minutes to present their arguments and field questions from the justices. The Missouri Supreme Court will release their ruling on a later date.