Sales tax stew overflowing, but road revenue deserves ‘yes’ vote

Considering the long lineup of funding requests that will be pitched to voters in the coming years, there is obvious concern among local government officials about the fate of the Boone County road funding issue that will be on the ballot in this November’s election.

Voter assent will be required for a variety of ongoing city infrastructure needs, including the water, sewer and electric utilities. The city wants to finance some of these improvements through sales taxes and others through the sale of bonds.

Anyone using county roads must surely appreciate the ongoing highway maintenance and construction that have been supported by the half-cent sales for the past few years. But there’s a sunset provision: Voters must renew this sales tax before next April, and the only election applicable to county business happens to occur this November.

It’s a time for county officials to take stock of what’s been done relative to the road system—what’s been promised and what’s been performed. They are going to have to make a strong argument to demonstrate that the money has been used wisely and then provide voters with a credible list of projects the county wants to pay for once the tax has been renewed.

One eccentric variable that may influence some voters is how the county has coped with seasonal severe weather, ranging from floods to heavy snowfall. Memories of snow-removal fiascos over the years are still lingering.

Few will disagree with the importance of the county’s road-improvement program and the ongoing maintenance needs of hundreds of miles of roads. The tax must be retained because Boone County defines the Greater Columbia Metropolitan Area, and good roads represent good public policy. It will be up to those in charge to make renewing this tax a certainty come November. Voters can’t be petty about this; Boone County needs this sales tax revenue to keep its highway network in shape.

These occasional bouts most of us have with sales taxes unfortunately reveal the fragile means by which city and county governments raise the funds they use to operate. While I won’t argue that some waste may be present, the agencies I’m familiar with appear to operate efficiently and honestly with no evidence in recent years of any scandal, fraud or otherwise unscrupulous activity.

Beyond property taxes largely committed to support government-funded public school districts, the state income tax sustains state government, leaving hundreds of cities and counties pawing at the scraps they derive from a plethora of various sales taxes. An almanac would be handy to keep track of these taxes as they “sunset” or cease to exist. Somewhat surprising is the failure of most merchants situated in lower sales-tax-rate areas to trumpet the advantage they have located outside the numerous Transportation Development Districts that have come to dot the region.

I believe there are only so many different levies various government entities can pack into the sales-tax stew. The whole sales-tax movement began rather modestly during the 1930s, and look what it has become. We now have sales taxes for conservation, law enforcement, county roads and a range of city projects, and there’s talk of a mental-health sales tax too. When the “sun” on one levy is slated to set, there always seems to be a new orb of taxation ready and waiting to rise and take its place.

Then there’s a whole assortment of other projects and objects waiting to absorb any money that’s left lying about. I can think of a baker’s dozen offhand, but there are many more. Whispers course through the community about this project or that one that still needs, say, a half-million or more dollars, while one professional fund-raiser says residents are growing more tightfisted and inter-agency competition for charitable giving is more and more pointed.

It would be wishful to think of a revolution in our system of taxation and the way it’s administered. Doesn’t it seem shameful how local governments have been forced to grovel for sales taxes to provide the revenue needed for operation? I suspect both city and county officials are wary about the future because there will be much on their collective plate. Information will be the key to selling voters on the need to maintain these revenue streams and possibly augment them as certain needs arise.

Al Germond is the host of the “Sunday Morning Roundtable” every Sunday at 8:15 a.m. on kfru. He can be reached at [email protected].