SCOTT COUNTY MISSING 911 TAXES

BENTON, Mo. - The advertisements claim they can provide local telephone service for those with credit problems with "no problem."

But Joe Burton, 911 administrator in Scott County, says there is a problem: Telephone service resellers have been collecting emergency-911 taxes and not passing the money along to the county.

"In Scott County we have three resellers doing business already," Burton said during Tuesday's Scott County Commission meeting. "And they are not paying their 911 tax. They have never contacted me."

Scott County is not alone. "It's pretty much a statewide problem. It's not a local problem," said Burton.

He explained, however, that more stringent rules and enforcement measures were enacted in January that should help ease the problem. Communities are now able to successfully bring lawsuits against offending telephone resellers.

"Those companies are subject to our 911 tax just like everybody else," said Burton. The tax per customer is 15 percent of their base rate, or about $7.50 per month if their monthly charge is $49.95.

At this point Burton said he can't even venture to guess how many Scott County residents use resellers, but they are out there.

He was contacted by one reseller customer who said he was being charged the tax and wondered if Scott County 911 was receiving it. That same company, which recently was purchased, has been contacting area 911 centers to bring their tax liabilities up to date, claiming they have tax records back to July 1999.

The company proposed it pay taxes back to that point and have its tax slate wiped clean.

Burton said there are two reasons he won't accept that offer. One is that it would set an unwanted precedence regarding 911 taxes for the other companies. The other is that the company should know the number of customers it has and from that number determine the taxes due.