Funding for disabilities board now Missouri's third-lowest

The decision to cut the Cape Girardeau County Board for Developmental Disabilities' funding earlier this month has knocked it to the third-lowest in the state, behind only by Polk and New Madrid counties.

County leaders who voted for the cut said knowing that wouldn't have changed their minds, but those who serve on the board said it was lamentable and could cause problems later on if the funding isn't restored next year.

"Obviously our commissioners feel we have too much," board chairman Larry Tidd said. "But it wasn't excessively high to begin with, and now it's taken us to one of the bottom three. That's disappointing."

The Cape Girardeau County Commission voted on Sept. 15 to cut the board's tax rate in half, setting it at 0.0385 cents per $100 assessed valuation. That amount is expected to bring in about $435,000 over the next year. But the former rate of 0.077 cents had generated $870,000 annually for the board, money meant to be spent on a sheltered workshop and other services for those with developmental disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome.

Of Missouri's 114 counties and the city of St. Louis, 85 have established so-called SB40 boards, named for the Senate bill that allowed them to be created. The Missouri state auditor's office tracks the boards and an annual report shows Cape Girardeau is the third-lowest in the state.

St. Louis County is the biggest revenue generator, with a tax rate of 0.077 -- the same as Cape Girardeau County's last year -- bringing in about $18.6 million each year. Polk and New Madrid counties have the same tax rate of 0.02, with New Madrid County collecting $78,059 and Polk County $55,284.

Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy said Saturday that none of that would have changed his vote. Each county must deal with a different set of circumstances, he said.

"This is independent of what other boards are doing," Tracy said. "We are taking a look at the whole situation, and I would say that our board is near the top as far as its overall fiscal condition."

Tracy and Commissioner Paul Koeper voted for the tax reduction, pointing to $3.7 million the board has sitting in the bank, $2 million of which has been accumulated over the past 20 years. They also have said that they disapprove of the fact that tax dollars are being used toward lawyer fees because the board is involved in litigation with VIP Industries. Voters approved the tax in 1975, and, until this year, the board spent the money through its contracts with VIP to provide a sheltered workshop for disabled people.

In recent years, the board has paid between $400,000 and $600,000 to VIP. But a dispute over the way VIP spends the money caused the board to stop payments, and now each entity is suing the other.

Commissioner Jay Purcell, who voted against lowering the tax rate, said now is not the time to be cutting the dollars. He pointed out that only one-third of the county's developmentally disabled use services funded by the board.

"That means two-thirds are not," Purcell said. "That seems to be a pretty effective argument that we should be spending more of those tax dollars, not less."

Tidd said the board and the services will survive dipping into its reserves for one year. But if the commission doesn't restore funding next year when it sets rates, services could suffer eventually, he said.

"My concern is they won't bring it back," Tidd said. "If that's the case, it will have a very detrimental affect down the road. If it stays where it is next year, there certainly wouldn't be any additional services or trying to expand. We want to serve more people in the county, and that's what we're working toward."

There is blame for both the board and the commissioners, said Dory Johnson, the former board chairwoman who resigned this summer along with three others over various issues.

"It's just a shame it has gotten to this point," Johnson said. "To be the third lowest? They should all be ashamed to have allowed this to happen."

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