Deaton praises Newton County Assessor, pushes for congressional map redraw

Standing up for Newton County residents!

Seneca-area Representative Dirk Deaton commended the work by Newton County Assessor Cheryle Perkins to reject a state demand that she raise property tax valuations by 12%.

“I appreciate, I applaud people like Sheryl Perkins that are standing up and pushing back and saying, go kick rocks, go pound sand,” Deaton told the KZRG Morning Newswatch, as he pushes for reform of the state tax commission.

“It’s the state tax commission, which is a creature of statute. But these are three un-elected bureaucrats appointed by the governor to be fair, not by this governor, all by former governors confirmed by the Senate…They’re trying to tell it is true, elected county assessors had to do their job. That’s wholly inappropriate in my mind, shouldn’t be happening. I’m not sure it’s even appropriate under current law.”

Deaton plans to pre-file legislation allowing Jasper and Newton County residents to freeze property taxes on primary residences for as long as they own their homes.

Senator Jill Carter’s 5% annual cap option and Senator Moon’s freeze option for primary residences exhibit legislative divergence in property tax approaches.

On another note, Deaton also says the state needs to redraw its congressional map. ” We should have done it in 2022 when we first had the opportunity. I was one of only 20 something Republicans in the House out of 163 that voted for a 7:1 map then,” said Deaton.

President Trump and his team has signaled that Missouri should redraw its map.

“Look, the country’s hanging on by a thread. We got over 400 members of Congress and the majority’s 12 people. We gotta make sure the America first agenda is put forth and we don’t have impeachment frenzy over the next two years, three years, and it could come down to Missouri. So we gotta put Missouri first. And we got every statewide office holder is a Republican.”