Because Blair Oaks School District is unwilling to go along with Cole County's surtax plan, at least three government entities appear headed for a court over a surtax that only amounts to a sliver of the county's income. We covered it on Talking Politics, but I want to go into a little more detail here. I think it's important to understand that, despite how small the surtax is, a lawsuit could have big implications.
How small is it? Of the roughly $23.8 million in tax revenues that flowed into Cole County's coffers in 2009, only $2 million came from the disputed surtax on commercial real estate. That means the county's headed for a lawsuit over a tax that makes up 8.4 percent of its revenue.
Here's the problem: Since 1987, the county has been calculating how to divvy up the revenues from this surtax incorrectly. Some areas — like Jefferson City, the Cole County library, and Cole County R.V. — got less revenues than they deserved. Some entities — like the Blair Oaks School District — got more revenues than they deserved. For the past four months, the county has been drawing up a plan to get some of these mistakenly diverted revenues paid back to the right parties.
Payment plan
But to understand why this small surtax has big implications now, you have to understand the county's plan to fix the problem. Take the Blair Oaks School District for example. They got too much money — $774,000 more than they deserved.
Under the county's plan, the district would pay that back over the next 20+ years — something the district generally agrees it should do. But the district doesn't like the county's plan, it says the county hasn't independently certified the dollar amount that all government entities are supposed to pay back. That's why it won't sign off on it.
But if the district doesn't sign off on the plan — which doesn't seem to be imminent before a lawsuit's filed — then, as Cole County Commissioner Marc Ellinger explained to me, the district will not get a payment plan to get the money all back to the county. The judge, Ellinger explained, would ask for one lump-sum check from the district — the judge may set a higher or lower number.
It's possible the district is setting itself up to argue in court the county can't take the money back after the fact. The statute of limitations that applies to this case is only believed to be 3 years long — but Jefferson City's city attorney Nathan Nicklaus told me that statute is not set in stone.
Chilling effect.
An even bigger consequence in this could be a cooling in the working relationship between Jefferson City and the county. As Nicklaus told me, the primary source of these county surtax revenues is Jefferson City itself. He says the two entities have a good partnership.
And yet now, Jefferson City says it will file suit against the county to make sure it can recover its losses — even though it agreed to the repayment plan, and it's Blair Oaks that still has a beef with the county.
Kyle Stokes
KBIA producer for Talking Politics, Anchor
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