Online tax records will speed license renewals

The process to renew vehicle license plates in Cape Girardeau County is becoming easier now that the county’s personal property records can be accessed online through the Missouri Department of Revenue.

“This has been a long time coming,” Cape Girardeau County Collector Barbara Gholson said Thursday as she reported the online records availability to county commissioners.

Access of personal property records through the Department of Revenue gives license bureaus in the state the ability to verify personal property tax payments.

Effective immediately, Gholson said vehicle renewals can be handled by calling the Department of Revenue’s motor vehicle registration call center, (573) 751-1957 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

The county collector said that as of Dec. 1, vehicle license renewal notices from the state will include personal identification number, or PIN, that will allow online registration.

More information, she said, is available online at www.dor.mo.gov.

“People have been asking for this for a long time,” Gholson said. “We finally met the (state’s) requirements.”

Second District Commissioner Charlie Herbst said the county has been working on the online vehicle registration process for nearly a decade.

“When I came into office eight years ago we started working on it,” he said. “For lack of a better term, we’ve been fighting with the state on how to do that.”

Property tax rates

Following a brief public hearing at which no one spoke, commission members Thursday unanimously approved the county’s 2020 property tax rates.

Based on a assessed valuation of real estate and personal property totaling $1,432,209,799 and a formula mandated by state statute, the commissioners set a general revenue tax rate of $0.075 per $100 assessed valuation, a fraction higher than last year’s $0.067 rate.

In addition to the general revenue tax rate, commissioners also voted to renew the $0.0478 property tax rate for senior services as well as $0.0772 for the county’s mental health board and $0.0553 for the Senate Bill 40 board, which oversees tax funds collected for sheltered workshop operations and those with developmental disabilities.

CARES Act payments

In other business Thursday, the County Commission approved payments to two county school systems to reimburse them for costs they have incurred for equipment, supplies and other expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Those payments, which are being made out of the county’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act fund, included $59,229.97 to the Jackson School District and $12,023.89 to Notre Dame Regional High School.

First District Commissioner Paul Koeper said the commissioners will likely see coronavirus-related reimbursement requests from county businesses starting next week.

“We’ll begin to get those Monday for approval,” he said.

Do you crave business news? Check out B Magazine, and the B Magazine email newsletter. Check it out at semissourian.com/newsletters to find out more.