HCS SS SCS SB 210 -- LOCAL GOVERNMENT

SPONSOR:  Griesheimer (Johnson, 47)

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Committee on Local
Government by a vote of 15 to 0.

This substitute changes the laws regarding political
subdivisions.  In its main provisions, the substitute:

(1)  Authorizes municipalities, townships, counties, and the
state to make purchases from Missouri vendors at no more than 5%
over the price of out-of-state or foreign vendors (Sections
34.070, 50.750, 65.400, and 71.140, RSMo);

(2)  Establishes a statewide mutual-aid system for emergencies
and details the procedures and responsibilities for political
subdivisions and participating agencies, including authorized
mutual-aid agreements (Section 44.090);

(3)  Designates the presiding commissioner of Cass County as the
county budget officer.  Currently, the county auditor serves as
the budget officer (Section 50.530);

(4)  Requires that county employees' salaries and benefits be
paid only to the extent authorized in the annual budget document
and appropriation orders for each county office and requires
county commissions to establish the minimum number of work hours
needed for each salary level (Section 50.540);

(5)  Allows the board of the County Employees' Retirement System
to determine if an additional benefit or enhancement improving
the quality of life of future retirees is actuarially feasible.
Benefit adjustments cannot be made until the retirement plan is
75% funded.  Adjustments cannot be made more than once every 12
months and cannot increase the contribution rate by more than 1%.
Adjustments, other than cost-of-living increases, will apply only
to active employees (Sections 50.1030 and 50.1031);

(6)  Allows capital expenditures and equipment expenses to be
deducted from the amounts approved in the prior year's budget
that counties are currently required to provide for the tax
maintenance fund (Section 52.317);

(7)  Consolidates tax collection in counties having a township
organization by eliminating the position of township collector
and giving the responsibilities to the former treasurer ex
officio collector, now called the "collector-treasurer."  Laws
generally applicable to county collectors will apply to county
collector-treasurers except when they conflict with laws
specifically applicable to a county collector-treasurer, in which
case, those laws will apply (Sections 54.010, 54.280, 54.320,
54.330, 65.110, 65.160, 65.460, 65.490, 65.600, 136.010, 136.160,
137.465, 137.585, 139.120, 139.350, 139.400, 139.420, 139.430,
139.440, 139.450, 139.460, 165.071, 242.560, 245.205, and
301.025);

(8)  Raises from $250 to $1,000 the value of property for which
the county auditor in first and second classification counties is
required to inventory (Section 55.160);

(9)  Removes the limitation which currently authorizes only first
classification noncharter counties to appoint county counselors
(Sections 56.060, 56.060, 56.631, 56.640, 56.650, and 56.660);

(10)  Specifies that when the recorder of deeds is separate from
the circuit clerk in counties of the second, third, or fourth
classification, the recorder must be paid the statutory
compensation (Section 59.044);

(11)  Changes the county planning board membership status of the
county commissioner and county highway engineer in Cass County
from voting members to nonvoting members (Section 64.215);

(12)  Requires that expenditures over $5,000 by the county sports
complex authority in Jackson County must be competitively bid
(Section 64.490);

(13)  Adds special assessments for neighborhood improvement
districts to the laws regarding the collection of property taxes
and other local taxes, changes the date at which lands are sold
for delinquent taxes and unpaid assessments from the fourth
Monday in August to a day in August to be specified by the county
collector, and changes the time frame for publishing the list of
delinquent lands accordingly (Sections 67.469, 140.150, 140.160,
and 140.170);

(14)  Specifies that when any tax, interest, or penalty imposed
in relation to the St. Charles County Convention and Sports
Facilities Authority is not paid when due, the authority may file
a notice of lien in the recorder's office and authorizes a civil
action by the authority to enjoin the operation of any business
or facility owing the tax or violating the provisions of the
county convention and sports facilities authority laws (Section
67.1159);

(15)  Authorizes any city or county to levy a sales tax of up to
0.5%, upon voter approval.  This tax must be in lieu of the
economic development sales tax allowed by Sections 67.1300 and
67.1303.  The substitute specifies how the funds are to be spent
and requires that the city or county establish an economic
development tax board.  The Department of Economic Development
must submit to the Joint Committee on Economic Development by
March 1 of each year a one-page report summarizing the status of
each project using this sales tax (Section 67.1305);

(16)  Changes the laws allowing all counties and the City of St.
Louis to levy sales and property taxes for community services for
children by clarifying that the sole purpose of the tax is to
provide services to protect the well-being and safety of children
and youth and to strengthen families (Sections 67.1775, 210.860,
and 210.861);

(17)  Extends authority to all cities and counties in the state
to develop geographic information systems and the ability to
charge for the use of the systems (Section 67.1850);

(18)  Modifies the authorization which currently certain counties
with significant lake shoreline have to impose, upon voter
approval, a single retail sales tax not to exceed 1.5% for the
purpose of promoting water quality, infrastructure, and tourism
so that voters can approve one or more retail sales taxes not to
exceed 1.5% in the aggregate for the purpose of affecting water
quality, infrastructure, or tourism, singularly or in any
combination (Sections 67.1922 and 67.1934);

(19)  Allows St. Charles County to conduct and pay for the
monitoring of blasting operations, whether the operation is
located in an unincorporated area of the county or within the
limits of a village, town, city, or municipality located within
the county (Section 67.2535);

(20)  Allows land sales pending plat approval if the owner/agent
discloses in writing that the plat has not been approved and the
sale is contingent upon the approval (Section 89.450);

(21)  Prohibits the City of St. Peters from levying and
collecting a license fee on hotels and motels in an amount in
excess of $1,000 per year and the City of Berkeley an amount in
excess of $12,000 per year, and authorizes the cities of
Edmundson, Woodson Terrance, St. Peters, and Berkeley to increase
the hotel/motel license tax by 5% per year, but the total tax
levied cannot exceed one-eighth of 1% of the hotels' and motels'
gross revenue.  These provisions have an effective date of July
1, 2006 (Section 94.270);

(22)  Establishes the Downtown Revitalization Preservation
Program which allows any municipality with fewer than 200,000
residents to undertake redevelopment projects to reduce blight in
their downtown area if certain requirements are met (Sections
99.1080, 99.1082, 99.1086, 99.1088, 99.1090, and 99.1092);

(23)  Adds junior college districts to the list of entities which
must be notified of and receive payments in lieu of taxes from
municipal industrial development projects involving the issuance
of revenue bonds or the conveyance of municipal property.  The
substitute also requires that all taxing entities in Franklin
County receive notice and payment in lieu of taxes (Sections
100.050, and 100.059);

(24)  Changes from May to April when county commissions receive
bids from banking institutions to be the county depositary and
changes from May 1 to April 1 when the bids are publicly opened
(Sections 110.130 and 110.150);

(25)  Allows the Cass County Commission to submit the issue of
the formation of a board of election commissioners to a public
vote.  Currently, this issue can only be submitted for voter
approval by initiative petition (Section 115.019);

(26)  Defines "business personal property" and requires taxing
authorities to exclude from their total assessed valuation 72% of
the total amount of business personal property that is the
subject to an appeal of the State Tax Commission or in a court.
If the taxing authority uses a multi-rate approach, this
exclusion is made from the personal property class (Section
137.071);

(27)  Allows local government officials to accept cash, personal
checks, business checks, money orders, credit cards, or
electronic transfers of funds for the payment of any city or
county tax or license.  The local government can charge the
person a fee equal to the amount charged to the county or city by
the bank, processor, or issuer of the electronic payment
(Sections 137.115, 139.040, 139.055, and 301.025);

(28)  Creates a standardized schedule of depreciation and
requires assessors to use it to establish uniformity in the
assessment of depreciable tangible personal property.  Business
personal property placed into service before January 2, 2006,
will not be affected by this provision (Section 137.122);

(29)  Specifies that whenever an assessor or an employee has
insufficient information to assess any real property or no
taxable personal property list was submitted, he or she will
assess the property based upon a physical inspection.  The
assessor or an employee will have the right to enter onto any
land for the purpose of assessing the real or personal property
but may not enter the interior of a structure without permission.
The substitute also repeals a similar duplicate version of this
provision passed in 1999 (Section 137.130);

(30)  Changes the calculation of the amount of the transfer of
certain county funds.  Currently, counties are required to
transfer from the county general revenue fund to the assessment
fund an amount equal to an average of the three most recent
years' payments.  The substitute requires that capital
expenditures and equipment expenses be deducted from a year's
contribution before computing the three-year average (Section
137.720);

(31)  Eliminates the requirement that the territory contained
within the corporate limits of an ambulance district be
contiguous as long as it is within a five-mile radius of other
district territory (Sections 190.010, 190.015, and 190.090);

(32)  Allows fire protection districts in St. Louis County to
create an ambulance district if the boards of the participating
fire protection districts approve by a majority vote and the fire
protection districts are contiguous (Section 190.015);

(33)  Allows nursing home districts in Marion and Ralls counties
to establish and maintain assisted living facilities (Section
198.345);

(34)  Allows the county commissions in Cass and Cooper counties
to submit a proposal to levy a tax to operate a county health
center to a public vote.  Currently, this issue can only be
submitted for voter approval by initiative petition (Section
205.010);

(35)  Prohibits the Missouri Housing Development Commission from
awarding grants or loans to the City of Kansas City until the
city's governing body implements oversight procedures to review
expenditures and development plans for all housing contracts in
excess of $75,000 (Section 215.246);

(36)  Allows Barry and Christian counties, upon voter petition
and after a public hearing, to disincorporate any special road
district except one which is located in two counties (Section
233.295);

(37)  Adds water supply districts to those entities that may sue
landlords or tenants for past due bills less any security deposit
amounts and requires those supplier entities to make a good faith
effort to notify the property owner when the tenant's sewer or
water bill is more than 30 days past due.  The owner cannot be
held liable for sums due from the tenant for more than 60 days of
service, and the water provider cannot be held civilly or
criminally liable for terminating service due to the delinquency
of the payment.  This provision only applies to residences with
their own private water and sewer lines and becomes effective
February 1, 2006 (Section 250.140);

(38)  Includes Schuyler County in Section 263.245 which provides
that owners of land in certain counties will control all brush
growing on their property that is designated as the county
right-of-way or county maintenance easement and which is adjacent
to any county road (Section 263.245);

(39)  Specifies that if a municipality adopts or implements a
residential construction regulatory system within its
jurisdiction, then fire protection districts cannot adopt or
implement such a system within the municipality's jurisdiction
(Section 321.222);

(40)  Specifies that the City of Harrisonville will be governed
by Section 72.418 relating to city reimbursement to the fire
protection district (Section 321.322);

(41)  Authorizes public administrators in counties of the second,
third, and fourth classifications to delegate their duties to
deputies (Sections 473.770 and 473.771);

(42)  Authorizes Jasper County to collect an additional $10 fee
on civil cases filed, excluding adoptions and small claims.  This
provision will expire December 31, 2014 (Section 488.426);

(43)  Establishes an expiration date of December 31, 2014, for
the authorization to apply certain additional court fees
authorized in Section 488.426 to the debt service on county bonds
for courtroom renovation and enhancement.  The substitute also
repeals a similar duplicate version of this section passed in
2004 which had an expiration date of December 31, 2014, for the
entire section (Section 488.429);

(44)  Specifies that when a change of venue is granted in a
criminal case the defendant will be housed in the county into
which the cause is removed if the respective sheriffs do not
agree.  If the defendant remains housed in the county from which
the cause is removed, that county's sheriff is responsible for
transportation of the defendant to all necessary court
appearances (Section 545.550);

(45)  Authorizes the Governor to sell property located in
Buchanan and St. Francois counties currently used by the Division
of Workforce Development as career centers (Sections 1 and 2);

(46)  Transfers the responsibility of computing county officials'
salaries to the county salary commissions (Section 3); and

(47)  Authorizes Madison County to impose, upon voter approval, a
local sales tax up to 1% to improve for public recreational
projects and programs, including land acquisition (Section 4).

FISCAL NOTE:  Estimated Income on General Revenue Fund of $0 or
Unknown in FY 2006, FY 2007, and FY 2008.  No impact on Other
State Funds in FY 2006, FY 2007, and FY 2008.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that making the local option economic
development sales tax available to all communities is a good
idea.

Testifying for the bill were Senator Griesheimer; Missouri
Economic Development Council; Missouri State Assessors
Association; Missouri Association of Counties; Department of
Economic Development; and Missouri Municipal League.

OPPONENTS:  There was no opposition voiced to the committee.

OTHERS:  Others testifying on the bill say that they are
concerned with the appeals to the taxing authority with regard to
the business personal property, and they are not in complete
agreement with the accelerated depreciation tables.

Others testifying on the bill were Missouri Association of School
Board Officials; Missouri State Teachers Association; and East
Central College.

Julie Jinkens McNitt, Legislative Analyst

Missouri House of Representatives
93rd General Assembly, 1st Regular Session
Last Updated August 25, 2005 at 1:21 pm