20 county commissioners gather in Cape Girardeau

~ They discussed legislative priorities for the Missouri Legislature.

When state government issues orders to county governments, it oftentimes doesn't send enough money along to pay the costs. Or, county commissioners from across the region said Wednesday, there's no money at all.

The complaints came during a wide-ranging discussion among more than 20 area county commissioners. They met in Cape Girardeau to discuss priorities for the Missouri Legislature and to plan strategies for meeting common goals.

Counties do have a card that potentially will get them some relief, said Dick Burke, executive director of the Missouri Association of Counties. The Missouri Constitution's Hancock Amendment, which limits state tax revenue, also requires that the legislature not impose any duties on local governments it is unwilling to fund.

"We wave the Hancock flag all the time, and it is a deterrent," Burke said. "And we have sued the state in the past. It is like fighting an 800-pound gorilla."

Among the items commissioners listed as causing problems for their budgets is the low rate of reimbursement for housing state prisoners and the requirement that third- and fourth-class counties pay the costs of their state audits.

"They make the mandates and they don't give any financial assistance," said Bud Snyder, associate commissioner from Wayne County. "It put the big hurt on us this year."

Greene County, which includes the city of Springfield, has been surveying counties to determine exactly which requirements from state government are unpaid, Burke said. The results could put the counties in court against the state, he said.

"I would like to see a push for that," said Gene Oakley, presiding commissioner of Carter County.

Other issues requiring help from legislators, commissioners agreed, are declining revenue to 911 emergency systems and a lack of sales tax revenue from Internet sales.

The 911 system is supported by a telephone tax, but the tax only applies to traditional telephones. Mobile phone owners escape the tax.

And counties could recoup some of the revenue lost to Internet and catalog sales, Burke said, by getting voters to approve a "use tax," which can be collected from out-of-state retailers.

Lawmakers could help strengthen both systems, Burke said.

One of the issues the association of counties thought it would be fighting this year, Burke said, involved regulation of large livestock farms. It is more of an issue in northern Missouri than in the southeast, he said, but the only leverage counties have is through health ordinances.

Counties that don't have planning and zoning rules can't restrict the location of the large farms, he said. Counties were ready to band together to protect their rights to impose health restrictions.

Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones told the gathering that the health concerns raised by the farms is obvious to anyone who visits them. "I've been to one in northwest Missouri, and it'll gag a maggot," he said.

But planning and zoning will never pass in most rural counties, Jones said. "If you want to get all the crazy people in your county together in one room, call a public hearing on planning and zoning."