A portion of the Saline County Assessor’s case against the county commission is being sent back to circuit court, with the potential to impact three neighboring counties.

The Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District released a unanimous ruling Tuesday, March 18, remanding back to a lower court part of assessor Jessica Adcock Goodman’s lawsuit challenging the county commission on the amount of money her office is required to receive each year. Goodman filed suit in October 2022, arguing that because Saline County is a fourth-class county, her office should receive one percent of ad valorem property tax collections to fund her office instead of one-half of one percent.

While the appeals court upheld the circuit court’s April 2024 ruling against Goodman on this count, they have remanded back to the circuit court her alternate argument, that Saline County be deemed a third-class county instead of fourth class. Currently Saline County, along with Johnson, Lafayette and Pettis counties, operate in a fourth classification, which since 1989 has allowed them to retain the function of a second-class county while at the time not having the required valuation to remain second class. Among those functions is the establishment of an auditor’s office, as well as separate collector’s and treasurer’s offices. Since 1989, Johnson and Pettis counties have gained enough value that they could become second-class counties in their own right, while Lafayette and Saline counties are still under the minimum value required.

In their ruling, the appeals court says that the circuit court erred in dismissing this count of Goodman’s petition, as well as the counts seeking additional office funding and associated court costs. The circuit court is directed to hear the case at a later date. The commission has 15 days to file an appeal.

The Missouri Court of Appeals issued their ruling nearly a year after referring Goodman’s appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court heard arguments in September, then ruled in November that the appeals court was the appropriate venue to hear the case.  Separately, the court also upheld the circuit court’s ruling against a fifth count, that had sought the restoration of pay for a day off that Goodman gave to her staff in June 2022.