Voter-approved tax takes effect Oct. 1 in Cape County

Starting on Thursday, a new half-cent sales tax begins in Cape Girardeau County and in a change from past practice, the State of Missouri will not remind merchants to collect the levy.

County voters approved the Law Enforcement and Public Safety tax on June 2 by a 57.1% affirmative vote.

The half-cent levy is expected to generate $7 million annually to help the county sheriff’s office hire and retain staff, upgrade equipment and help underwrite jail operations.

On the night of the vote, Sheriff Ruth Dickerson said approval means the county will be able to hire 10 new officers in the patrol division and will have funding to place school resource officers in Delta and Oak Ridge.

In a bit of a shock, the Missouri Department of Revenue said municipalities are on their own to get the word out to gather up the tax.

“(The Department of Revenue) will no longer send out courtesy rate notification letters to inform taxpayers (of) a rate change,” a department news release stated.

“Yes, I’m surprised (and) I’ve never known DOR not to do it,” said Treasurer Roger Hudson, who was served in the county’s top fiscal role since 2005.

Hudson said a DOR staffer told him the state’s decision not to inform was driven by budgetary matters and a lack of available personnel due to COVID-19.

Hudson also was told DOR would prefer merchants become electronic filers using www.dor.mo.gov/business/sales/rates/2020.

The new rate for every county municipality, Hudson said, can be found on that website and encouraged merchants to use it.

“That’s fine as far as it goes, but there are county businesses who don’t have internet,” Hudson said. “We don’t have the budget to (directly) inform the 12,000 entities in our county.”

At Thursday’s county commission meeting, 1st District Commissioner Paul Koeper outlined a potential nightmare scenario for businesses.

“If a person buys a tire Oct. 1 and the merchant doesn’t know to start collecting the tax, it’s going to be on that businessperson to make it up when the state comes calling,” said Koeper, who was initially elected in 2008 and is the senior county commissioner.

Hudson said DOR has assured him any tax money owed on a transaction over $10 will have to be paid.

“It’s not good that our merchants will have to make up the difference if they don’t collect the correct amount,” he added.

CARES Act reimbursements

The county commission approved a $1,308.40 request for the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri to be used for personal protection equipment (PPE).

The commission also approved amended requests from Notre Dame Regional High School, agreeing to Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act distributions of $94,770.76 and $9,492.89.

On Monday, the commission approved $1,932.23 for PPE for the Cape Special Road District.

Cape Girardeau Area Magnet will continue to receive PPE requests on behalf of the county’s non-public sector sources through Sept. 30.

Infrastructure approvals

• $36,839.49 to KT Power Systems for adding 12 additional cameras to sheriff’s office holding areas and the walkway to the new courthouse.
• $242,598.09 for asphalt overlay along County Road 335.
• Requests for proposals (RFP) for radio tower relocation and demolition approved. The county previously received a $55,442 grant from Delta Regional Authority to fund the work.