SCOTT COUNTY CONSIDERS TAX; NEW JAIL, OTHER PROJECTS NEEDED

BENTON -- The Scott County Commission may propose a capital improvement sales tax to fund a new county jail, courthouse repairs and road and bridge improvements.

Presiding Commissioner Martin Priggel said the commission is exploring the idea but isn't close to making a decision.

Even if the commission settles on a tax measure, it would be next year at the earliest before it would be submitted to voters, Priggel said.

He said the commission also is investigating whether any government grants are available to help fund the proposed improvements.

Prosecuting Attorney Cristy Baker-Neel recently asked the Missouri attorney general's office if a single tax measure would be legal. Baker-Neel made the request on behalf of the county commission.

Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon said the county can't combine all three improvement projects into a single tax measure.

In a letter last Friday to the prosecutor, Nixon concluded that a sales tax measure for road and bridge improvements would have to be voted on separately from one that would fund courthouse repairs and a new county jail.

The commission could put both capital improvement sales tax issues on the same ballot provided that the two taxes combined total no more than a half cent, Nixon said.

Under Missouri law, a half-cent capital improvement sales tax is the most that can be levied in Missouri counties.

Nixon said any sales tax issue put on a ballot should be for a specific purpose. Repairing the county courthouse and the jail could constitute a single purpose, he wrote.

"Improvements to roads and bridges are not naturally related or connected with the other two projects," Nixon concluded.

"Combining improvements to roads and bridges with the other two projects would result in `doubleness' in submissions at elections, which is universally condemned," Nixon wrote.

If all three projects are combined into a single tax issue, voters might be forced to vote for a project they don't want in order to secure the improvements they do want, he said.

Priggel said the county needs to replace its aging, crowded jail. The county also needs to repair its 85-year-old courthouse.

"The courthouse caught on fire a couple of times last year because of bad wiring," he said. The wiring needs to be updated. The commission also wants to install an elevator to make the courthouse handicapped accessible.

Scott County also has its share of road and bridge needs. "We have so many roads and bridges," said Priggel.

Scott County doesn't have enough money in its budget to repave the 130 to 140 miles of asphalt roads in a timely fashion. "The most we can do is 13 to 14 miles a summer. It takes 10 years to get back through them again," he said. "For the time being, we've stopped putting any new blacktop roads down."

The commission hasn't settled on a total price tag for all the improvements. But Priggel said the county can't afford the improvements without additional revenue.

The county's general sales tax brings in about $1.5 million a year. In contrast, Cape Girardeau County government receives $4.7 million a year from its sales tax.

Sikeston is the largest city in Scott County. But the city limits extend into New Madrid County. Wal-Mart and other large-revenue-generating stores are in the New Madrid County section of the city, Priggel said.

Scott County doesn't get the sales tax revenue from those stores.

"We are the only county in the Bootheel that doesn't have a Wal-Mart," the presiding commissioner said.

County officials for years have talked about the need for a new jail.

In April 1995, voters rejected a proposed sales tax that would have funded construction of an 80- to 120-bed jail costing about $4.5 million. Situated near the courthouse, the county jail was built in 1932 to house a maximum of 24 prisoners. Today, it holds as many as 48 inmates.

"Instead of two sleeping bunks in a cell, we put four in and double stack them," said Lt. Jim Chambers of the sheriff's department.

The jail was remodeled in the 1970s, and an addition was put on the front of the jail for office and kitchen space. No new cells were added, Chambers said.

Scott County needs a larger jail, and there is enough crime to fill a 100- to 120-bed jail, he said. The county should build a jail large enough to meet current and future needs, he said. Such a jail should be large enough to house at least 150 prisoners, Chambers suggested.

Scott County routinely has 45 to 50 prisoners in custody at any one time. The jail can house as many as 40 male and eight female prisoners.

Additional prisoners have to be housed in jails in other counties. For several months the sheriff's department housed from 15 to 20 prisoners a day in the Butler County Jail at a cost of $25 a day per inmate.

"That is a big chunk of change," said Chambers.

The jail windows need to be replaced. The handles that crank open the windows are broken. "I got cell doors that are getting sprung and beat up," he said.

Antiquated wiring wasn't designed for computers and today's other electrical needs.

The jail is so crowded that families must visit with prisoners in the lobby.

"You are going to say this is a zoo," he said. "It is up to the point, either you spend the bucks fixing stuff or you are going to build something new," Chambers said.