Another Platte County elected official has voiced concerns over the upcoming jail expansion sales tax proposal.
Monday, July 8, Platte County Auditor Kevin Robinson issued an audit report of the financial pro forma used in determining the proposed sales tax rate of one-half cent for the Platte County Detention Center expansion project on the Aug. 6 election ballot.
Robinson
In the report, Robinson said the Auditor’s Office was absent in the development of the jail tax expansion projections used by the Commission in determining ballot action. After several requests were made to obtain a reviewable copy of the financial pro forma with estimated collections of over $400 million dollars, a Sunshine request was made on Friday, May 31.
“It is appropriate to conduct an audit of the pro forma to evaluate accuracy and validity of the information used in determining the proposed sales tax rate for funding construction, renovations to the existing facility and daily operations through 2044,” Robinson said.
The audit of the pro forma determined the forecasting methodology, a combination of estimated jail population, 2024 budgeted expenses as a baseline, incremental annual increases, and cost per inmate.
“The approach I agree with, some of the projections I don’t,” Robinson said.
The Garnos Inmate Population Trends and Projections report is the basis for projecting capacity requirements for the next twenty-five years. As reported originally in 2018 and updated in 2023, the estimated number of beds needed in 2038 is 373 for the estimated 317 inmates.
Audit considerations include:
Financial pro forma projections longer than three to five years have a diminishing rate of accuracy due the numerous variables and uncontrollable external factors, clearly demonstrated in the past five years,
The audit examined a portion of the county revenues and expenses not as a whole to determine potential impact of the expansion tax and increased jail capacity,
The Sheriff’s Office provided 2024 salaries and suggested several percentages for annual increases, not all data matched the baseline amount as provided, and
The author(s) of the worksheet is unknown, the spreadsheet was reported as a collaborative effort with contributions from the Commission, Administrator, and Financial Advisor.
Audit findings include:
The pro forma has the jail population at 317 in 2031, 178 inmates over the Garnos projection,
Inmate population increasing to 480 in 2036, 37% overall higher than projected in the Garnos study or nine prisoners’ over the total number of proposed beds,
The inflated jail population was used in the inmate medical care calculations, resulting in significantly overstated expenses by $16 million dollars; 2028 - 2044,
The cost of housing prisoners until 2028 is understated by an estimated $560,000,
A formula error calculating wages and benefits costs omitted 16 full time employees totaling an estimated shortage of $32 million in payroll costs; 2028 - 2044,
Annualized inflation rate used to anticipate food service expenses currently based on prisoner count, and
The limited scope of the pro forma does not indicate accounting for the $100 million dollars in General Fund relief from existing expenses redirected to the new tax
The auditor included a table with his press release, as pictured below.
“The audit evaluated the assumptions, calculations, and identified projected revenues and expenses associated with bonding, construction and operations, and identified the change, or Delta, to expenses directly associated with the expansion project,” Robinson said.
Robinson noted this is a special revenue tax not a general sales tax.
“All collections associated with this tax are to be used for the intended purpose, construction and operations,” he said. “The estimated operating expenses are over $19 million in 2044 when the tax sunsets, the pro forma projection for surplus funds equal to approximately two years’ expenses.”
Should sales tax collections not increase on an annual basis of 3.0% as forecasted, the property tax levy is the safety net as pointed out by the financial advisor during the presentation to the Commissioners.
In the development of the Law Enforcement Tax initiative in 2019, Gordon Cook and Robinson collaborated on the pro forma to ensure County operations were accurately reflected. Cook is a local financial advisor, and was an appointed citizen to the special committee.
