CCS SS SCS HCS HB 795, 972, 1128 & 1161 -- COUNTY GOVERNMENT

This bill changes the laws regarding county government.  In its
main provisions, the bill:

(1)  Authorizes the commissions in Cass and Greene counties to
impose a civil fine of not more than $1,000 for misdemeanor
county ordinance violations;

(2)  Authorizes noncharter counties to adopt ordinances related
to their property, affairs, and local government, including
protection of the environment from the risks of methamphetamine
production but excluding regulation of the sale or display of
drugs with certain active ingredients.  No third classification
county may enact an ordinance with regard to agricultural
operations, but any zoning adopted by a county prior to the
bill's effective date is exempt from this provision;

(3)  Allows the salary commission of Cape Girardeau County to
meet and determine in 2004 whether to equalize the base salary of
the county treasurer;

(4)  Allows county collectors to employ at least one full-time
deputy and as many as necessary to perform the duties of the
office;

(5)  Increases the maximum reimbursement rate for members of
county planning commissions in second and third classification
counties and counties with alternative county planning and
zoning;

(6)  Allows county planning commissions to accept other forms of
security besides surety bonds in lieu of the full completion of
required infrastructure improvements in subdivisions;

(7)  States that if a county commission has not submitted a panel
of three names to the Governor within 30 days of the expiration
of the county sports complex authority commissioner's term, the
Governor will immediately make an appointment with the advice and
consent of the Senate.  If the Governor does not appoint a
replacement, no commissioner will serve beyond the continuation
of his or her term;

(8)  Allows Jefferson County to establish county municipal courts
and adopt orders with penal provisions in the areas of traffic
violations, solid waste management, and animal control;

(9)  Enables Dent County and the City of Hermann to enact a
transient guest tax;

(10)  Allows property owners in Buchanan, Newton, Jasper, Wright,
Camden, Miller, Jefferson, Morgan, Greene, and Cole counties to
petition to create an exhibition center and recreation facility
district.  The district may submit to its voters a sales tax of
one-quarter of 1% to fund the district;

(11)  Allows St. Charles County to establish a theater, cultural
arts, and entertainment district and assess a sales tax of up to
one-half of 1% to fund the district;

(12)  Provides that a centralized emergency dispatching system
created by a joint municipal agreement within St. Louis County
may be considered a political subdivision as it relates to
Sections 70.600 - 70.755, RSMo, regarding the retirement of
officers and employees of political subdivisions;

(13)  Requires political subdivisions to accept a cash escrow or
letter of credit from a developer as security for the completion
of infrastructure improvements in subdivisions.  The bill exempts
Kansas City from this provision;

(14)  Exempts transfers of certain property by the Bi-State
Metropolitan Development District and the Kansas City Area
Transportation District Authority from real and personal property
taxes and state and local sales and use taxes.  The bill adds to
the exemptions all sales made by or to an organization that has
been granted tax exempt status under federal law.  These sections
contain an emergency clause;

(15)  Allows, through intergovernmental agreements, the
collection of traffic fines, parking fines, towing and vehicle
immobilization fees, and the penalties and court costs associated
with those fines and fees at the same time as the collection of a
taxpayer's personal property taxes;

(16)  Increases the percentage of property tax collections that
are deposited in the county assessment fund under certain
conditions.  An additional one-eighth of 1%, not to exceed
$100,000 in any year, will be deducted in charter and first
classification counties and the City of St. Louis, and an
additional one-quarter of 1%, not to exceed $50,000 in any year,
in all other counties.  This section expires on December 31,
2009;

(17)  Prohibits any municipal official, member of a school board,
or an employee of a school district from serving on a county
board of equalization in counties with a charter form of
government;

(18)  Repeals the Community Comeback Act.  The local use tax in
St. Louis County, which is used to fund the program, will be used
for economic development and enhancing local government in St.
Louis County;

(19)  Clarifies that a municipality in Christian County may
continue to operate an emergency telephone service in the event
the county also establishes a service or has been reclassified
into a higher classification;

(20)  Revises provisions pertaining to vital records.  The bill:

(a)  Increases from $10 to $13 the fees charged for the issuance
of a certification or copy of a death record by a state or local
registrar and increases from $10 to $15 the fees charged for the
issuance of a certification or copy of a birth, marriage,
divorce, or fetal death record;

(b)  Requires the Director of the Department of Revenue to credit
$4 to the General Revenue Fund; $5 to the Children's Trust Fund;
$3-$5 to the Missouri Public Health Services Fund; and $1 to the
Endowed Care Cemetery Audit Fund from each vital record fee
collected, effective August 28, 2004; and

(c)  Requires that moneys in the Missouri Public Health Services
Fund be used to automate and improve the vital records system by
December 31, 2009;

(21)  Increases the cap from $3 to $7 for special use permits in
certain counties;

(22)  Allows the formation of a levee district in any city, town,
or village that is not located in St. Charles County.  However,
third and fourth class cities in St. Charles County are allowed
to form levee districts.  Certain levee districts in St. Louis
County are authorized to construct and maintain waterlines.
Under current law, levee districts located within St. Louis
County are allowed an alternative procedure with respect to the
apportionment of installment taxes.  The bill extends this
procedure to all levee districts;

(23)  Allows county commissions and industrial development
authorities to use landfill fees for economic development within
the county;

(24)  Allows any second, third, or fourth classification county
to set by ordinance countywide speed limits on roads within
unincorporated areas of the county, with the maximum speed limit
of 55 miles per hour if there are signs posted and 50 miles per
hours if there are no signs;

(25)  Exempts Greene, Platte, Clay, St. Louis, and St. Charles
counties from the requirements providing for an adjustment in the
total operating levy of the district based on the sales tax
revenue and, upon voter petition, repealing a sales tax for those
purposes;

(26)  Requires the Highways and Transportation Commission to
issue an order authorizing removal of a railroad crossing within
30 days whenever an authority legally closes or vacates a road
which has a crossing;

(27)  Provides an alternative method for issuing certain
utilities revenue bonds;

(28)  Requires the Jackson County public administrator, when
serving as conservator and using pooled accounts for
conservatorship funds, to have the pooled accounts audited at
least annually by an independent certified public accountant to
be paid by the county.  When the accountant's audit report is
filed with the court, the written certification by a depositary
officer will not be required;

(29)  Subjects Kansas City municipal judges and court personnel
to court management and case docketing by the presiding judge and
the rules of the circuit court;

(30)  Allows Franklin County to impose an additional fee of $10
when filing a civil case unless it concerns adoption or is in
small claims court and allows any county other than a county on
the nonpartisan court plan to use money collected for the
maintenance and upkeep of a law library to pay for courtroom
renovation and technology as well as for debt service on bonds
issued by the county for the projects;

(31)  Allows required legal publications in a newspaper that has
only been published for two years if it is the only newspaper
serving a county.  This section contains an emergency clause;

(32)  Relieves counties, cities, and villages with fewer than
10,000 inhabitants of liability for the injury or death of any
person attending any fair, festival, or similar gathering
organized or sponsored by the political subdivision;

(33)  Prohibits the sales tax authorized for funding storm water
control or local parks from being collected on food in St. Louis
County; and

(34)  Provides that the Board of Fund Commissioners determine
whether any governmental entity has sufficient fund balances to
redeem leasehold revenue bonds obligated pursuant to a federal
court desegregation action.  If sufficient fund balances exist,
the State Board of Education will certify that no amount is
needed by the entity to repay the bonds.

Missouri House of Representatives
92nd General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated September 23, 2004 at 11:13 am