SCOTT COUNTY OFFICIALS DEBATE MILEAGE RATE IN SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

BENTON -- The rate of mileage reimbursement has become a topic of debate among Scott County officials in the wake of a decision by commissioners to reduce the rate for the sheriff's department.

On Feb. 13, the Scott County Commission voted 2-1 to reduce the mileage reimbursement rate for the sheriff and his deputies from 25 cents to 20.5 cents a mile, bringing it in line with the rate paid other county officers and employees.

Sheriff Bill Ferrell contends such a decision violates a state law stipulating the 25-cent-a-mile rate.

But Presiding Commissioner Durward Dover and Commissioner Lynn Ingram say sagging county finances prompted the reduction.

"In my mind, it's a mathematics problem, dollars and cents," said Dover. "I think it was a common-sense decision."

Ingram said: "The bottom line is our revenue is down, and I am not going to sit there and keep paying that money out and have Scott County going into the red. Right now our taxes are down and our interest is down, and everyone knows that."

The lone dissenting vote came from Commissioner Joe Spalding. Spalding could not be reached for comment, but a courthouse spokesman said Spalding believed the law clearly required the county to pay the 25-cent rate.

In a Feb. 18 letter, Prosecuting Attorney David Dolan advised Ferrell that the commission's action could be grounds for a lawsuit. But Ferrell said he doesn't plan to take the issue to court. "I don't plan on suing them. I just think they ought to comply with what the statutes are," he said.

Dolan said two state statutes and the Missouri Constitution come into play on this issue.

Dolan said one state law clearly requires counties to reimburse sheriffs and deputies 25 cents a mile in counties where no county-owned vehicles are available. In Scott County the sheriff owns several vehicles used by the department and the remainder are owned individually by deputies.

The prosecutor said another state law provides that the highest rate of mileage reimbursement to any county official or employee must be applied equally to all other county employees and officeholders.

Such a law, he said, prohibits the county from paying a higher reimbursement rate to some employees or departments and a lower rate to others.

As to the Missouri Constitution, Dolan said a section of Article 10 provides that the state can't require counties or other political subdivisions to provide new services unless it provides funding for such services.

This provision of the constitution was adopted Nov. 4, 1980. The law raising the sheriff's department mileage reimbursement to 25 cents a mile was enacted in 1990.

Dover believes the constitutional provision applies in this case. But Ferrell argues that the 1990 law did not mandate new services or duties.

Ferrell said the mileage allowance for sheriffs' departments was increased by Missouri law at least one other time since enactment of the constitutional provision, and Scott County officials had complied.

Ferrell said the county began reimbursing the sheriff's department at the 25-cent rate in January 1991.

He said the county continued to reimburse his department at that rate through January of this year. At the same time, the county reimbursed other county employees at the 20.5-cent rate.

But Dolan recently advised the commission that if it were to continue paying the 25-cent rate to the sheriff and sheriff's deputies, it would have to pay the same rate to other county employees or enter into written contracts with those employees for the lower reimbursement rate.

Dover said such a solution would be impractical. "Who would sign such a contract? I wouldn't and I wouldn't ask anyone else to."

The presiding commissioner added that Juvenile Officer Bill Lawson had requested that his office be reimbursed at the 25-cent rate. Dover said Lawson's request had brought the issue to a head.

Lawson declined to comment on the matter when contacted by a Southeast Missourian reporter.

Dover said that the county probably could have afforded to pay the 25-cent rate if it was confined just to the sheriff's department. But he said the county couldn't afford the increased expense of applying the rate to all county mileage.

He also said Scott County could not continue to pay different reimbursement rates without exposing the county government to the possibility of a discrimination suit.

In 1991, mileage expenses for the sheriff's department totaled more than $119,000, well above the $97,300 budgeted.

But Ferrell said last year's mileage costs were higher than normal because of a large number of drug cases in which prisoners had to be transported to and from the state penitentiary.

This year's budget projected mileage expenses of $108,000. He said that projection was based on the 25-cent rate of reimbursement.

In developing the budget in January, a rate reduction was never discussed by the commission, Ferrell said.

The sheriff also said the county does receive court fees and some reimbursement from the state regarding mileage expenses for the sheriff's department. Ferrell maintained such revenue offsets much of the mileage expenses.

Dover said he believes that under the Missouri Constitution the state cannot require Scott County to pay a higher reimbursement rate without providing the necessary funding.

He said some Missouri counties are applying the 25-cent rate to all county departments, but others are not.

"That really leaves us in a quandary as to what to do," said Dover. "I get so frustrated with statutes that are conflicting."

Dover said the Missouri attorney general's office and the state auditor's office have not provided any clear-cut opinions on the issue.

An attorney general's opinion issued last summer did not address the question of whether a county is compelled to reimburse mileage expenses at an increased level without added state funding.

At that time, a case was pending before the Missouri Supreme Court on the issue. But that case was subsequently withdrawn. As a result, Dolan requested that the attorney general's office issue an opinion on that question.

Dover said the county commission's decision was not an easy one. "If we could have afforded the 25 cents, it would have made it a lot easier."