CCS HCS SS SCS SB 210 -- POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS

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

(1)  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, RSMo);

(2)  Allows a court administrator as well as a circuit court
clerk to schedule the county salary commission meeting and serve
as its temporary chairperson (Section 50.333);

(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)  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
80% 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);

(5)  Allows county commissions to budget one-time expenditures
directly attributable to any county office, department, or court
in a common fund or account so that the expenditures do not
appear in the budget of the office, department, or court (Section
52.317);

(6)  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 law
specifically applicable to a county collector-treasurer, in which
case, those specific laws will govern (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);

(7)  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);

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

(9)  Defines "copying," "reproducing," and "duplicate copies" for
purposes of Chapter 59, County Recorders of Deeds (Section
59.005);

(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 64.940);

(13)  Prohibits St. Charles County from dissolving, eliminating,
merging, or terminating the municipal fire department in the City
of St. Charles without an affirmative vote of the city residents
(Section 66.411);

(14)  Adds special assessments for neighborhood improvement
districts to the laws regarding the collection of property taxes
and other local taxes (Sections 67.469, 140.150, and 140.160);

(15)  Authorizes a lien on property against the real and personal
property of a business when any tax, interest, or penalty imposed
under the County Convention and Sports Facilities Authority in
St. Charles County becomes delinquent.  Provisions to release the
lien are provided (Section 67.1159);

(16)  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 in Sections 67.1300 and
67.1303 (Section 67.1305);

(17)  Allows metropolitan park and recreation district sales tax
revenues earmarked for grants to be used to fund any recreation
program or park improvement in St. Louis County (Section
67.1754);

(18)  Changes the laws allowing all counties and the City of St.
Louis to levy sales and property taxes to fund 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);

(19)  Extends authority to all cities and counties in the state
to develop geographic information systems (GIS) and authorizes
charges for the use of the systems (Section 67.1850);

(20)  Modifies the current authorization which 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);

(21)  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);

(22)  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);

(23)  Prohibits, on or after January 1, 2006, the City of St.
Peters from levying and collecting a license fee on a hotel or
motel in an amount exceeding $1,000 per year and authorizes the
city to increase the hotel/motel license tax by 5% per year, but
the total tax levied cannot exceed one-eighth of 1% of the
hotel's or motel's gross revenue.  Other cities, including
Edmundson and Woodson Terrace, are authorized to increase the
hotel/motel license tax by 5% per year, but the total tax levied
cannot exceed the greater of one-eighth of 1% of the hotel's or
motel's gross revenue or the business license tax rate for the
hotel or motel on May 1, 2005 (Section 94.270);

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

(25)  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
bill also requires that if the project plan is approved after May
15, 2005, in Franklin County, all affected taxing entities
receive notice and payment in lieu of taxes (Sections 100.050 and
100.059);

(26)  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);

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

(28)  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 of 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);

(29)  Adds studio broadcast equipment, tower transmission and
antenna equipment, and broadcast towers to the property tax
depreciation schedules for broadcasting equipment (Section
137.078);

(30)  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 may 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);

(31)  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);

(32)  Specifies that whenever an assessor or his or her 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 his or her 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 bill also removes a similar duplicate version of
this provision passed in 1999 (Section 137.130);

(33)  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 bill requires that capital expenditures and
equipment expenses identified in a memorandum of understanding
signed by the county governing body and the county assessor be
deducted from a year's contribution before computing the three-
year average (Section 137.720);

(34)  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);

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

(36)  Allows nursing home districts in Marion and Ralls counties
to offer apartments for senior citizens which provide housing,
food services, and emergency call buttons to the residents
(Section 198.345);

(37)  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 may only be
submitted for voter approval by initiative petition (Section
205.010);

(38)  Prohibits the Missouri Housing Development Commission,
beginning January 1, 2006, 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 $100,000 (Section
215.246);

(39)  Allows any county, upon voter petition and after a public
hearing, to disincorporate any special road district (Section
233.295);

(40)  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 amounts due from the tenant for more than 90 days
of service.  In the cities of St. Louis and Kansas City, until
January 1, 2007, owners cannot be held liable for more than 120
days of service and after that date owners cannot be held liable
for more than 90 days of service.  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 (Section
250.140);

(41)  Includes Schuyler and Worth counties in Section 263.245
which requires owners of land in certain counties to 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);

(42)  Changes the terms of fire protection district board members
in St. Charles County from six years to four years over a period
of time (Section 321.120);

(43)  Reduces the residency requirement for fire protection
district board members from two years to one year (Section
321.130);

(44)  Prohibits fire district board members from being paid more
than one attendance fee per week if the member attends more than
one meeting in a calendar week (Sections 321.190 and 321.603);

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

(46)  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);

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

(48)  Requires clerks who process passport applications for a
fee to account for the expenditure of the fees in an annual
report to the presiding judge and the Office of State Courts
Administrator.  The fees may only be used for the maintenance of
the courthouse or to fund operations of the circuit court.
Currently, the clerks must remit 80% of the fees collected to the
state (Section 483.537);

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

(50)  Removes a duplicate version of Section 488.429, passed in
2004, specifying how funds collected under Section 488.426 may be
spent, which had an expiration date of December 31, 2014, for the
entire section (Section 488.429);

(51)  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
the transportation of the defendant to all necessary court
appearances (Section 545.550);

(52)  Expands the purpose for which a tax charged on adult
cabarets may be used from solely for background checks on cabaret
employees to include general law enforcement use for the
sheriff's department (Section 573.505);

(53)  Authorizes the Governor to sell property located in
Buchanan, St. Francois, and Jasper counties currently used by the
Division of Workforce Development as career centers (Sections 1,
2, and 5);

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

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

(56)  Authorizes the Governor to sell property located in Cole
County (Section 6); and

(57)  Authorizes the Department of Natural Resources to deed
certain property at the Fort Davidson State Historic Park to the
City of Pilot Knob in exchange for another parcel of property in
Iron County (Section 7).

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