MISSOURI COMMENT: CONSTANT CHANGES IN JEFF CITY A GAME OF MUSICAL CHAIRS

JEFFERSON CITY -- Although its outward appearance gives little evidence of it, Missouri's state government is in constant change. Whether in the area of programs, personnel or policies, transformation occurs regularly in a city where change seems to be the least of its characteristics.

Although gubernatorial inaugurations occur only once every four years, new state officeholders trigger a variety of personnel changes, and in recent years, despite the fact that some 40,000 employees are now covered under the state's merit system, large scale personnel turnovers have become the rule rather than the exception.

Even today, after 18 months in office, appointments by Gov. Mel Carnahan to executive posts have created a game of administrative musical chairs, with the latest one being the move of state Rep. Chris Kelly to the Labor and Industrial Relations Commission. Seemingly involving just one personnel change, Kelly's appointment will trigger numerous alterations in the weeks and months following his new assignment.

For example, Kelly was slated for easy re-election in his Columbia district, but his move to the executive agency will require a substitute on the Nov. 8 ballot. As chairman of the House Budget Committee, the Boone County lawmaker exerted vast power over the direction of state government, and now it will be up to Speaker Bob Griffin, or his successor, to name a new appropriation chair.

One wag in the Capitol jokes that since becoming chief executive, Carnahan has weakened Democratic control of the General Assembly more than the Missouri Republican Party. The governor has picked an unusually large number of legislators for executive department posts, and the result has sometimes been a Republican replacement in the Legislature.

Going virtually unnoticed are the changes that result from just one appointment like Kelly's. Also playing some role in the movement from the General Assembly to the executive branch is the state's term limitation statute. Even though the limitation "clock" just started running after the 1992 general election, several legislators have conceded their moves were prompted by the 8-year limitation on both senators and representatives. It has also seemed to engender bolder initiatives by members who want to advance in the legislative pecking order, causing them to declare earlier their candidacies for leadership posts. With the term-limit clock running, some legislators have started their pursuit of these jobs sooner than their predecessors.

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CERF'S UP: A new county employee pension system, which came into existence only last month after approval of this spring's legislative session, will for the first time in Missouri history provide an opportunity for all employees of county government to participate in a vested retirement system. Known as the County Employees' Retirement Fund (CERF), the program will cover every county government employee choosing to participate, except in first-class charter counties and St. Louis City, where pension systems are already in effect.

Although some counties earlier placed many of their employees in the Missouri Local Government Employees' Retirement System (LAGERS), approximately half of the eligible counties have not placed their workers under the local government pension system. CERF makes a retirement plan available to all counties, with funding split between individual contributions to the system and additional user fees charged to the public. Annuity payments to participating employees will become available in less than two and a half years, Jan. 1, 1997. A 9-member statewide board of directors will oversee the administration, operation and investment policies of CERF.

Fees to be charged the public to help fund the system include a higher penalty (5 percent) on delinquent taxes (with revenue split between CERF and a county's general revenue fund); penalties on late personal property assessment lists; 80 percent of revenue from county merchants' licenses; and an additional $6 fee on all legal documents recorded and filed.

County employees taking part in CERF will have 2 percent of their salary withheld for annuity vesting. Employees who choose to take part in both CERF and LAGERS will have a larger percentage of their salary withheld.

Some counties have experienced great difficulty in the past when employees have sought to establish pension funds or requested inclusion in LAGERS. Because of constitutional restrictions, counties could not open enrollment to all employees and thus opted not to participate in limited programs.

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BUDGET BOOST: Even if no increases in departmental appropriations for the next fiscal year were to occur, taxpayers would have to fork out additional money just to cover the cost of inflation. According to a directive recently issued by the Office of Budget and Planning, Missouri expects to pay 6 percent more for employee health insurance in Fiscal Year 1996, which will begin next July 1. Budget officers estimate that inflationary costs will take an extra 3 percent for motor fuel, natural gas and fuel oil. The state also expects a 1.5 percent hike in power costs.

The budget directive, which calls for requests to be submitted for executive study and recommendations no later than Oct. 1, notes a growing uncertainty about state expenses due to potentially higher desegregation payments and an increasing number of unfunded mandates from Washington.

Jack Stapleton is a veteran journalist from Kennett whose column keeps tabs on Jefferson City.