Auditor Fitzpatrick takes legal action to obtain data essential to the completion of the audit of the Jackson County Assessment Department

Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick took legal action today to obtain the missing link needed to complete the audit of the Jackson County Assessment Department. Fitzpatrick filed a petition in the Circuit Court of Jackson County to enforce two subpoenas he issued on February 24, 2025, to the Jackson County Assessor and to Data Cloud Solutions (DCS), which is the vendor used by the department to house data that will help determine if drive-by assessments were performed in violation of state law.

"From the beginning we knew this data was critical to the audit and mandatory to answer the questions of Jackson County residents who have serious concerns about their rights being violated during the physical assessment process," said Auditor Fitzpatrick. "We began requesting this data in the very early stages of our work and have been given the run around the entire time. The Jackson County Assessment Department claims they are unable to access the Mobile Assessor data created during the assessment of Jackson County property, and have pointed their fingers at Data Cloud Solutions, a third party vendor. Data Cloud Solutions has been unwilling to provide the data to a client paying for their services, and has already ignored two subpoenas from our office. Unfortunately for Data Cloud Solutions, we will fight until we have the truth for the people of Jackson County."

Fitzpatrick added, "We already know Jackson County failed to meet their notice requirements which in and of itself invalidates assessments that increased more than 15%, but I want all of the homeowners who are the victims of this fatally flawed assessment process to know we won't rest until we have this data so we can complete the audit to determine if county officials managed to get anything right during the 2023 assessment process and provide actionable steps that can be taken to avoid this disaster in the future."

Fitzpatrick and the State Auditor's Office initially requested Mobile Assessor data, which is the software system used to compile information on parcel by parcel inspections, from Tyler Technologies in November 2023. After three requests to Tyler Technologies were ignored, the State Auditor's Office requested the data from the Jackson County Assessment Department in January 2024 only to receive a response that the department would need to reach out to Tyler Technologies about the data. After months passed and no data was provided, the State Auditor's Office issued a subpoena to the department on May 28, 2024, and again on October 8, 2024.

On September 17, 2024, the State Auditor's Office was advised that a third party vendor, Data Cloud Solutions, has exclusive direct access to the Mobile Assessor data. A representative from Tyler Technologies indicated the company gave Data Cloud Solutions the necessary permission to share the data with the Jackson County Assessment Department. However, after the department's request to obtain the data directly from Data Cloud Solutions failed, Auditor Fitzpatrick issued a third subpoena to the department on February 24, 2025.

The State Auditor's Office also attempted to obtain the Mobile Assessor data directly from Data Cloud Solutions. From February 2024 through January 2025, Data Cloud Solutions ignored these requests. On December 16, 2024, the State Auditor's Office issued a subpoena to Data Cloud Solutions, which was also ignored. The office then issued a second subpoena on February 24, 2025, which was ignored as well.

The audit of the Jackson County Assessment Department has been ongoing since October 23, 2023. The audit was initiated at the request of the Jackson County Legislature, which passed a formal resolution authorizing the audit on August 21, 2023. Auditor Fitzpatrick released preliminary results to the people of Jackson County on December 18, 2023, after his office discovered up to 200,000 homeowners in Jackson County were the victims of a flawed and inadequate assessment process that failed to comply with state law. His office continues to work to complete the audit of the department in spite of continued efforts made by the auditee to delay the process.