No votes were taken at a special meeting held last week to discuss a possible renewal of the county’s 3/8th cent county-wide roads sales tax.
The roads sales tax renewal may come up on the November election ballot.
Monday, July 18, commissioners met with members of the Platte County Economic Development Council to discuss the possible renewal of the 3/8th cent county-wide roads tax. They issued a statement following the meeting announcing the upcoming decision and the Wednesday, July 20 meeting.
At that meeting - which was not live streamed or recorded - the commissioners heard from Gordan Cook, an accountant hired by the county. Cook presented his analysis of the financial impact on the county government budget.
Additional meetings with Cook were also scheduled, with the topic expected to be back up for discussion at the regular commission administrative session Monday, Aug. 1.
For the last 20 years, Platte County has had a special sales tax dedicated to improving roads and bridges. Voters twice approved the tax for 10-year periods.
The Platte County Economic Development Council led the effort to collect information on planned road and bridge work from cities and road districts.
EDC member Aaron Schmidt told the commission last week that the EDC went to the majority of the cities and asked about their road needs.
“We came up with ranking criteria: safety, economic development, traffic volumes, ability to leverage funds and the condition of the roadway,” Schmidt said.
The EDC provided the commission with a list of the road and bridge needs. The list of needs totaled nearly $250 million.
Schmidt provided a proposal for the next 10 years.
Earlier this year, Platte City joined other municipalities in supporting a renewal of the roads tax, which has funded numerous improvement projects in the city.