During a brief special meeting held Tuesday morning, Platte County commissioners have approved two ballot measures for the August primary election.
County attorney Bob Shaw presented the orders authorizing the tax, with tax calculations made by a commission-appointed advisory committee, which met for several months late last year and earlier this year.
The paperwork had to be submitted to the Board of Elections by 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
The commission order was accompanied by the report of that committee, which Shaw said allows the commission to oversee the usage of the tax proceeds.
“I’m very pleased with their (tax committee’s) work and that they’ve identified law enforcement as a priority that could have dedicated funding just as our parks and just as our roads do,” said district commissioner John Elliott, stating he believed the second renewal of the parks tax in 2009 was expected then to include law enforcement. “It’s time to help law enforcement with the necessary funding that they need.”
The two ballot measures read as follows, for the renewal of the parks sales tax first approved by voters in 2000 at a half-cent and renewed at a half-cent in 2009:
“Shall the County of Platte, Missouri, impose a renewal of the existing county-wide sales tax at the reduced rate of one-quarter of one percent on all retail sales made in the county for the purpose of providing dedicated funding for local parks and storm water control for the county for a period of 10 years.”
For the new law enforcement sales tax:
“Shall the County of Platte, Missouri, impose a county-wide sales tax at the rate of one-quarter of one percent on all retail sales made in the county for the purpose of providing dedicated funding for the operation of Platte County law enforcement for a period of 10 years.”
This ballot language was approved with the caveat that the proceeds would not be used for construction of a new jail facility.
SPECIAL ATTORNEY
Also at the special meeting, commissioner approved an amendment to its letter of engagement with the Graves Garrett Law Firm, which handles the ongoing litigation concerning the parking garages at Zona Rosa Town Center.
This time, however, the commission has charged Graves Garrett with providing “advice regarding the constitutional and statutory powers of the Platte County Commission regarding Platte County business,” at a rate of $375 per hour.
Commission candidate David Park questioned the use of the special attorney, asking if Shaw could handle the matter at a cheaper rate.
Presiding commissioner Ron Schieber said the county has recently held several executive sessions regarding legal matters, which are closed meetings under the Missouri Sunshine Law. Grave Garrett’s services were a “better fit” for these discussions than Shaw’s, he said.
When asked what the commission planned to do with the information gathered, Scheiber said that information was protected by attorney-client privilege and the Sunshine Law.