State software glitches affecting revenue distribution to cities, counties

Cape Girardeau city and county governments and the city of Jackson experienced a shortfall in sales-tax revenue in recent months officials blame on Missouri Department of Revenue software issues.

But city and county officials said they recently received supplemental payments from the state that appear designed to address the issue and provide added tax dollars owed to the local governments.

Cape Girardeau city finance director John Richbourg said August, September and October payments from the Department of Revenue were 7.3 percent lower, or more than $190,000 less, than the same period a year ago.

Richbourg estimated Tuesday the first quarter’s revenue was “understated” by at least $300,000 because of a delay in sales-tax distributions from the state.

In a recent memorandum to the city council, Richbourg wrote the lower payments resulted from problems the Revenue Department had with “conversion of their sales tax reporting software.”

But the state agency recently provided a supplemental payment of more than $244,000 to the city, which appears to have addressed much, if not all, of the shortfall in general sales-tax revenue.

The city received more than $10.39 million in general sales-tax revenue this calendar year, up slightly from a year ago, city financial records show.

But for the current fiscal year, which began July 1, sales-tax revenue is up 3.13 percent, according to city records.

Revenue from the city’s other sales taxes mirror the percentage rise in general sales-tax revenue, Richbourg said.

Richbourg said he spoke recently with Department of Revenue officials who indicated they planned to “get caught up by next week” with supplemental payments to Missouri’s local governments.

Cape Girardeau County government also received smaller payments this fall than projected, county Treasurer Roger Hudson said.

He said local governments throughout the state complained to the Department of Revenue about the situation.

Hudson said the revenue issue first surfaced about August. Like Cape Girardeau, the county received a supplemental payment this month.

The county government received an extra payment totaling $169,000 in general sales-tax revenue and a similar amount in Prop 1 sales-tax money, plus an added $31,233 in use-tax money, Hudson said. The Prop 1 Cape Girardeau County government received $983,400 in use-tax dollars for 2017, up 5.9 percent over a year ago, Hudson said.

The use tax is a sales tax on out-of-state purchases. The increase in use-tax revenue reflects the boom in online purchases, he added.

The general sales tax and Prop 1 sales tax each brought in more than $7 million over the last 12 months, up 1.26 percent, Hudson said.

Jackson city government received $40,595 in supplemental revenue this month, said city clerk/treasurer Liza Walker.

The city received $2.27 million in general revenue sales tax in 2017, she said.

Larry Koenig, assistant city administrator, said in an email to the Southeast Missourian the city of Jackson was “a victim of the same software glitches.”

Missouri Revenue Department director Joel Walters said in an email his agency is “taking steps” to address the situation, including sending out supplemental payments.

“Moving forward, we are working to develop more efficient distribution processes to better serve our customers,” he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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