Cape County more optimistic voters will approve use tax

Cape Girardeau County voters may experience a moment of déja vu when they read their ballots Tuesday.

For the second April in a row, residents are asked to consider a 1 percent use tax.

But county officials point out there are differences between the circumstances of 2014 and this year.

For starters, voters this year should have a much clearer idea of how the use tax revenue will be spent.

Since last April's election, a citizen committee has studied plans from Treanor Architects for new county facilities and has delivered a recommendation to county commissioners. The county accepted the recommendation earlier this year and plans to move forward with construction of a new courthouse but requires a revenue source first. That's where the use tax comes into play.

This information wasn't available a year ago, Associate Commissioner Charlie Herbst said. The committee, after studying the plans and touring county buildings, had the option to reject all three of the architect's plans and decide the county didn't require any change or upgrade in facilities. Because so many options still were on the table, Herbst said the county wasn't able to give voters more specific information on use-tax spending.

"I think there's a lot of folks more favorable of the use tax this time because we have something to spend the money on," he said. "We want to be prudent and responsible with the citizens' tax dollars. There's no reason to collect more money than we need."

The county is looking at a $25 million bond issue for construction of the new courthouse, although commissioners have said they want to be flexible, should the use tax revenue not support that price.

Herbst also said he feels voters have a little more clarity on what a use tax is and how it works. The county has hosted informational events to answer questions from residents, and employees have attended public meetings to talk to as many people as possible, he said.

"I believe we've done our due diligence and spoken to groups, answered questions," Herbst said. "We've talked to people at the grocery store, talked to people at church, talked to people at bowling -- just wherever to help them undersand."

Besides a use tax, the county could have pursued a property or sales tax to fund the new facilities plan. Commissioners said they ultimately chose to pursue a use tax because it was the least intrusive option. They've argued as long as consumers buy local, they never will pay the use tax. Use taxes also are not charged when sales taxes are collected on a purchase.

On its website, the Missouri Department of Revenue says a use tax "is imposed on the storage, use or consumption of tangible personal property in this state."

Among the items to which the tax applies are titled vehicles -- including automobiles, boats and other recreational vehicles -- purchased out of state.

Consumers are required to file a use-tax return with the state department of revenue if their untaxed purchases from out-of-state vendors in a calendar year equal more than $2,000. Missouri cannot require companies outside the state that do not have a nexus, or direct connection, with the state to collect and remit a use tax.

That leaves customers responsible for filing a use tax return for the purchases exceeding the $2,000 mark. Purchases that do not have sales taxes applied to them often are made online.

The self-reporting relies largely on the honor system, making it difficult for counties placing use-tax questions on the ballot to calculate a revenue estimate.

Cape Girardeau County Treasurer Roger Hudson said there's no way to know exactly how much the county would collect if the use tax passed. The only number the county can be certain of is the $250,000 it collects from out-of-state vehicle purchases.

Hudson has attempted to calculate an estimate by comparing and looking for relationships between use tax and total taxable retail sales averages from the state and other counties. He gathered the information, all of which is available through the Missouri Department of Revenue, and laid it out in a spreadsheet to help make the comparisons.

Included is the county's population, the proposed tax levy and Cape Girardeau County's location on a state border, which should drive up its use-tax receipts. Hudson estimates the proposed tax would bring in somewhere around $1.4 million.

Based on available data, Hudson said that's the best estimate for the county's annual use-tax revenue, but the tax ultimately could bring in a completely different number.

Hudson said he wouldn't be surprised if actual revenue were lower than the calculation.

"As my spreadsheet shows, there are counties that are very high and some that are actually lower than the average, so you don't really know where you fall for sure," he said.

The question of income is just one concern that's been expressed by No MO Tax, a local organization that encourages fiscal responsibility. It opposes the tax and is encouraging residents to "vote like your wallet depends on it."

The group questions how many people will go through the process of self-reporting qualifying purchases made outside the state and whether it will provide sufficient funds for the county's facilities plan.

At the March monthly meeting of the Cape County Tea Party, No MO Tax members said they would have liked to see more tightening of the belt by the county before it approved placing the use tax question on the ballot again. They specifically pointed to the recent purchase of 18 outdoor warning sirens.

Cape Girardeau County commissioners in 2013 approved accepting a $293,623 Federal Emergency Management Agency grant to pay for the new sirens, which went live the following year. County officials said the move was prompted in part by an EF2 tornado in 2012 that damaged the school and buildings in and around Oak Ridge.

The grant required a 25 percent match from the county, which asked for assistance from local governments, businesses and utility companies and cooperatives to meet the requirement.

Costs of any contributions put up by these entities ultimately comes back to customers, No MO Tax members argued.

Information on No MO Tax is available at nomotax.org. Cape Girardeau County offers information on its facility plan at capecounty.us.

srinehart@semissourian.com

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