Jackson sets options in county tax dispute

By Monday, Jackson city officials will know if they will be taking Cape Girardeau County to court for roughly $80,000 in annual road and bridge tax money and perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars in back payments.

Jackson Mayor Paul Sander and city administrator Jim Roach, with the support of the board of aldermen, met with county commissioners Gerald Jones and Larry Bock Wednesday. Sander laid out some options and told the commission that the city is prepared to take the county to court if a compromise is not met.

During closed session Monday night, the aldermen voted unanimously to authorize Sander to proceed with litigation.

The dispute is over whether the city is entitled to road and bridge tax funds collected by the county from Jackson residents. Many, including the state attorney general, believe the law says Jackson is entitled to 25 percent of the funds collected from Jackson residents.

The county commission says the law only applies to special taxes, which require voter approval.

The board of aldermen came up with three options for the mayor to take to the commission for final consideration:

Jackson could take the issue to court on its own.

Jackson and the county could share the costs of seeking a Supreme Court opinion.

Jackson and the county could reach a payment settlement.

Sander said the commissioners told him they would have a decision by Monday, which gives the commission two meetings -- one today and another on Monday -- to decide their course of action.

"They just threw out some scenarios," Bock said. "But no decisions have been reached. We'll have to discuss this. I hope some day the Supreme Court can make a ruling so everyone knows for sure."

Jones, the presiding commissioner, could not be reached at the commissioners office, his business or his home Wednesday afternoon. Jones and Bock, which represented a quorum of the commission, attended the meeting, although the meeting was not publicly posted in compliance with the state's laws on open meetings.

Tom Ludwig, Jackson's attorney, said he would handle the city's case.

Ludwig said if no compromise is reached, the city would file a petition.

"It would be our hope that we could file directly with the Missouri Supreme Court and that the Supreme Court would accept this as an original jurisdiction matter because of the statewide importance," Ludwig said.

If the trial goes through the circuit court, the process will take much longer, he said.

The matter is important statewide as other first-class counties without a charter form of government could change their budget structures based on a potential court ruling.

Cape Girardeau is only one of two first-class counties in the state that do not provide at least some funding to cities. Callaway County is holding money back until the matter is resolved here.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635