Direction of the City of Neosho.....

Since I intend to stir debate and express myself through this medium, I have decided to tackle a controversial issue, within the Neosho, Mo. area, with my first "editorial".

During the last couple of years, the City of Neosho has experienced a series of "blunders", which have led to a budget crisis.  If you are not aware of the background to this mess, please check out the following link, as I don't care to rehash "old news" for the locals, who already know the story.

(The Joplin Globe article below, does not tell the whole story, but if you are not aware of the situation - you may "Google" the City of Neosho and the words "budget crisis" and you should be able to get the idea of what happened.)

http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/x1483666209/Neosho-mayor-Ballot-measure-could-be-all-or-nothing-deal-for-Neosho



As the City of Neosho has navigated its way through arguably the worst budget problems in its history, new City Council Members have been elected and City Council meetings have been packed with angry citizens, who have demanded changes and explanations.  This is a time where the City Council MUST build trust with the Community.  Trust is so vital in any relationship.  People wish to blame the previous Council, Jan Blase, and Bob Blackwood for destroying trust; but I offer up the opinion that trust is still lacking and actually still being destroyed.

As the new City Council has begun to wrestle with the many challenges facing this City in the Ozarks, many ideas were passed around and finally it was decided to approach the voters and ask for a tax increase.  The tax increase proposed was a property tax and the ballot language established a $1.00 per $100.00 assessed valuation rate on Real AND Personal Property.

As the campaigning began, both for and against the tax,  the City Council said they intended to lay off Police Officers and Fire Fighters if the tax were to fail.  I asked how many Emergency Services Workers would lose their jobs, if the tax were to fail.  Along with the rest of the Community, I was told they did not yet have firm numbers and did not know how many Cops and Fireman would be let go.  This started the red flags in my mind.  Think about this, if you were a businessman OR a City Leader and you had to budget your operations for the coming year and I came to you with this news - "next year you are going to lose One Million Dollars from your revenue stream" - do you think you could tell me where you were going to have to cut your operations???  I mean if One Million Dollars equals, for example only, 8 Fireman and 8 Cops, why couldn't we just be told that?

Next, I had concerns about what the proposed tax would do to the Neosho School System.  I have long been an advocate for the School System and about 6 years ago or so, I was on the Committee to pass one of several bond issues, which we attempted.  Point being, I put my money where my mouth was and advocated for new schools.  I feel new schools are a priority, as they improve the learning environment and the recruitment and retention of the very best teachers on the market.  The tax I worked on was around .36 Cents per $100.00 assessed valuation, so it was about one third of what the City of Neosho proposed.  The School tax failed.  I feared if the City Tax passed, the School System would never pass another bond issue, which they still so desperately need AND the Neosho Schools have wisely managed the tax money they already have.

I was also concerned about the proposed tax being so high.  If the tax was established at $1.00 per $100.00 assessed valuation, then the City of Neosho would have had the highest tax burden of any City in the Southern two thirds of the State of Missouri AND they would have still offered less services than any other City in the Region.  So, High taxes equaled less services.


As the election neared, I made the hardest political decision of my life and voted NO on the Property tax.  I was joined by 1, 629 other voters, which equaled 60 % of those casting ballots.  I think that was a sound message on how "We the People" felt about the increase in property taxes.  


In the late to mid 1990's, The City of Neosho had a property tax, which was rolled back to "zero" and no longer assessed, after a promise was made to Neosho voters.  The promise was this, if the voters would agree to pass a Parks and Storm Water Sales tax, the Council would roll the tax back to zero.

After the sound defeat of the latest tax, the City Council decided to seek the re-instatement of this property tax.  They decided the tax could "legally" be levied at 42.25 cents per $100.00 assessed valuation on Real Property ONLY with NO vote of the PEOPLE.  It is projected this tax will bring in anywhere from $350,000 to $400,000 per year. 

After all of the boring and confusing story above, we are now to the meat of my feelings:  While the imposition of this property tax may have been "legal", I believe it was morally wrong.  The Council Publicly expressed the opinion, through case law, that a past Council's decision could NOT be held as binding on a future Council.  While I agree the case law does back up this position, I am left to wonder, what happened to people voting for what is "right"??? 

Now, I realize there will be those people who will say - it was "right" to impose this tax because we must have professional well staffed fire and police service.  I agree we do need these things, but the public, whom all public servants work for - felt other wise.  The public was well informed there would be cuts to emergency services and they voted the tax down anyway.  The Council was given a pretty clear message as to how the constituents felt about a new tax.

In addition, the City has recently announced collections from this tax should begin to appear in the City coffers in about March or April (they have to be collected by the County Collector and are not due until December 31, 2010).  While this would place the new revenue in the City's hands midway through the 2011 Fiscal Budget year, which runs from October 1 to September 30, they City has decided not to fund any new police or fire positions this year.  AGAIN, an issue of trust to me, how can it be argued that police and fire protection was so vital, yet when we get new money in the stream - that is not the first area for these funds???

Further, the City Council made the decision to not allocate ANY money for Economic Development from the 20 year old Economic Development Sales Tax.  The argument here is this, the City said the tax had been collected based on a state statute that only allowed for expenditures based on "Capital Improvements".  Again, I agree with the City's interpretation of this statute, but I fault them for once again NOT following the will of the people.  What they don't tell you is this tax passed with an overwhelming majority, when it was voted upon AND the people were told the tax would be used for "Economic Development Purposes" AND it has been!!!  So, while the letter of the law may be on the City's side, there is no respect for what the people wanted.

There will be those of you who will say the Economic Development Sales Tax has not been used wisely by the Chamber of Commerce (they have administered the expenditures of the tax).  But, I offer this to you, when Scholastic was about to leave Neosho, after their building on Harmony Street was flooded, how do you think the City was able to keep them and the 100's of jobs they have?  When Sunbeam folded and left town - how did the City recruit Jarden and the more than 100 workers they have?  When Neosho desperately needed new retail development, how did we recruit Lowe's Home Improvement Store???  I could go on and on, but you get the idea. 

What the Council does not tell you is this: every other City in Missouri, who really wanted such a tax, sought Legislative Relief, that is they approached the Missouri Legislature and asked for a specific bill pertaining only to them and their needs be passed, so they could have a tax and grow their community.  The Neosho City Council has made no mention of seeking Legislative Relief, even though NO voter complained about the uses of this tax.  At a time when the economy is where it is and our Community relies heavily on manufacturing, we need this tax. 

For those of you, who have stuck it out to the end of this rather boring post, I thank you and I ask, will you join me in demanding trust be placed back in our leaders and our Government?  I am friends with every member of our current Council and I personally respect each of them.  I think they are doing what they believe is best for the City, but we have different opinions.  Therefore, I am left to this, "If we can't agree - let's at least be Civil........................"