SIGNS OF THE TIMES: TAXPAYERS FOOT BILL FOR BILLBOARD REGULATIONS

Taxpayers are footing most of the bill when it comes to regulating Missouri's billboard industry.

The Missouri Department of Transportation spent more than $651,000 last year to regulate billboards and other road signs, and junk yards.

Permit fees for billboards generated $173,235 last year. Annual $10 permits for junk yards brought in another $1,650.

Most of the state's expenses were associated with inspecting and regulating billboards, said Marci Horton, the state's outdoor advertising manager.

It's a big job. Missouri has more than 13,500 signs along 4,500 miles of state-regulated highways. About 2,000 of those signs are in a 20-county area of Southeast Missouri.

Statewide, 3,500 signs don't meet state regulations. Southeast Missouri has 378 non-conforming signs.

Most non-conforming signs are grandfathered in because they were erected prior to March 30, 1972, said Mitch Terry of the department's Poplar Bluff office.

Terry inspects billboards in Southeast Missouri.

The regulations don't apply to church or public service signs such as those of service clubs if the signs aren't larger than eight square feet.

Horton heads up a 14-member staff in the state transportation department that regulates billboards and junk yards.

A small part of her office's personnel costs are budgeted for the administration of the blue road signs that inform motorists of motels, service stations and restaurants at each exit.

Horton and other transportation department officials want the Legislature to raise billboard permit fees.

Billboard companies must pay $28.50 per sign. Each permit is good for two years and can be renewed for the same fee every two years thereafter.

Transportation Department officials have drafted legislation that would raise the initial permit fee to $100 for billboards up to 300 square feet and $200 for larger billboards. The biennial inspection fee would be raised to $36.

The new fees would take effect in August, under the department's proposal.

"It would basically allow us to break even or have the program pay for itself," said Horton.

John Cauwenbergh works for the Transportation Department as a lobbyist. He said the proposal currently is being studied by the governor's office.

"We anticipate if we go forward with this bill, there should not be much controversy," he said.

But at this point, it is uncertain if Gov. Mel Carnahan will support such a measure.

The billboard industry's Vince Miller said the governor's office may oppose such a move if it would make it more difficult for the state to keep a lid on revenue to comply with the state constitution's Hancock Amendment.

Miller, vice president and general manager of Drury Displays in St. Louis, is president of the Missouri Outdoor Advertising Association. About 20 billboard companies make up the association.

Chris Sifford, the governor's spokesman, said the revenue lid is an issue that the governor's office will consider in reviewing the proposal.

Sifford said Carnahan hasn't made a decision yet on whether to back the fee-raising proposal. He said a decision could come within a few weeks.

If the governor backs the proposal, the Transportation Department will work to line up a lawmaker to sponsor the measure.

Miller said the billboard companies aren't opposed to paying fees that would offset regulatory costs.

"We are not asking the state to subsidize the regulation of our industry as long as they do it in a cost effective manner," Miller said.

Last year, 80 billboards were removed or brought into compliance as a result of the state's regulatory efforts. Ten of those involved cases in Southeast Missouri.

In some cases, billboards were brought into compliance through zoning changes.

The state restricts the size of a single sign to a maximum of 1,200 square feet.

State law, which mirrors the federal law, requires billboards to be spaced at least 500 feet apart along interstate highways, 300 feet apart on primary state roads outside city limits and 100 feet apart inside city limits.

Miller said the state needs to improve its management of the regulatory program.

The state, he said, has been slow to deal with some of the signs that don't comply with the regulations. Some signs have been in violation for years, he said.

Most of the problem billboards are ones owned by the smaller sign companies, Miller said.

The major billboard companies that make up the Outdoor Advertising Association do their best to comply with state law, he said.

"We have a vested interest to comply with the highway department or to work with the highway department," Miller said. "If we don't, they can stop issuing us permits."

Miller's company, Drury Displays, has about 300 billboard structures in Missouri and Illinois. Counting both sides of a billboard, the company has about 600 sign faces, he said.

Karl Kruse thinks the state has too many billboards. Kruse is executive director of Scenic Missouri. The Columbia-based organization wants to preserve the state's scenic heritage.

Scenic Missouri estimates there are 28,000 billboards statewide, which includes those along city and non-primary state roads.

Along major state highways and interstates, there are nearly two billboards per mile, Kruse said.

"We think Missouri has too many billboards and the state looks very trashy," he said.

Fewer billboards would make the state more attractive for tourists, he said.

Kruse said the state should raise permit fees. The biennial fee amounts to $14.25 per sign per year.

That is pocket change for billboard companies who charge $3,000 to $5,000 a month for billboard space in high traffic areas in St. Louis County, Kruse said.

"We certainly support any effort to make the billboard polluters pay their own way and not be subsidized by the taxpayers," he said.

Kruse's group is circulating an initiative petition to change the state constitution and allow cities and counties to regulate billboards and even prohibit new ones on all roads in their jurisdictions.

Scenic Missouri hopes to secure more than the 116,000 signatures needed by July 3 to get the proposed amendment on the November ballot.

BILLBOARD INFORMATION

Missouri has more than 13,500 signs and billboards along 4,500 miles of state-regulated highways. Of those signs and billboards, 3,500 or 26 percent don't meet regulations. Most of those don't have to conform to the state law because they were erected prior to March 30, 1972.

There are 378 non-conforming signs in a 20-county area of Southeast Missouri.

Eighty signs were either removed or brought into compliance last year.

The Missouri Department of Transportation spends $651,098 a year to regulate billboards, junk yards and logo signs.

The state received nearly $175,000 from billboard and junk-yard permit fees last year. Most of that revenue, $1,73,235, was generated from billboard fees.

Source: Missouri Dept. of Transportation