There is probably no better opportunity for counties and municipalities to share services and save tax money than in emergency 911 dispatching services. As vital as the service is, if the technology is effective and the operator is properly trained, it makes no difference if the emergency call is answered down the block in New Madrid, Missouri, or across the ocean in old Madrid, Spain.

In southeastern Missouri, Perry County and the City of Perryville reviewed numerous options for upgrading their 911 system. In late 2023, they determined that the best option from a service and cost perspective was to contract with neighboring St. Francois County, which has already implemented the improved technology a modern 911 system requires. Perplexingly, some residents of Perry County have objected to this.

According to news reports, the main objection is the loss of a few 911 system jobs, as if the main role of local government is to keep as many people on the payroll as possible. That’s how political machines function, not quality local government. The objectors have succeeded in putting the consolidation question on the upcoming April election ballot. Hopefully, the voters will value tax savings and improved public safety over government job protections.

Many counties and cities around Missouri share emergency operations dispatching. County sheriff’s departments can do more than simply share service with other county sheriffs; they can operate together with city police departments, fire districts, university police departments, ambulance districts, and more. The economies of scale here allow for implementation of better technology in larger 911 systems, saving taxpayer money. The city of Flint, Michigan, saved over a million dollars a year and was able to eliminate 23 positions by joining the Genesee County 911 system.

To give a Missouri example of savings for taxpayers, Lake Ozark recently contracted with Miller County to handle its 911 system. Lake Ozark will save around $200,000 per year in direct costs while avoiding spending even more to upgrade its own soon-to-be obsolete 911 system.

Closer to Perry County, the Cape Girardeau County sheriff’s 911 dispatch system handles calls not only for the sheriff but also for eight other fire and ambulance districts and police, fire, and ambulance calls for Jackson. Does anyone seriously think the public would be better served with 10 different 911 systems in the county, each one struggling to hire and train employees and regularly upgrade expensive technology?

For one final example, in 2016 the City of New Madrid and New Madrid County partnered to consolidate their 911 systems and upgrade their technology. I hope the citizens of Perry County realize how common and beneficial these types of partnership are in Southeast Missouri.

Saving money by sharing the costs of technological improvements is more important than ever since salaries for 911 dispatchers are increasing substantially in an effort to recruit more people to the job. Currently, staffing shortages are the major problem facing dispatching systems all over the country, and have been partially responsible for recent 911 system problems in Kansas City and St. Louis. Maintaining multiple systems requiring more employees using lesser technology isn’t going to help the people of Perry County.

These are just a few good examples of 911 consolidation around Missouri. While there are many success stories in both urban and rural parts of our state, numerous opportunities for change still exist. Wherever you are in Missouri, enhanced public safety technology and more efficient use of tax dollars through 911 consolidation are two things we can all support. Hopefully, the voters of Perry County will recognize these benefits in April.

The post 911 Systems Are a Great Opportunity for Local Government Cooperation appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

There is probably no better opportunity for municipalities to share services for public benefit than in emergency 911 dispatching services. Lake Ozark and Osage Beach deserve credit for considering this change, which can improve public safety and save taxpayer money at the same time.  Lake Ozark appears to be moving ahead with the necessary legislation, and Osage Beach should move forward with it as well.

In 2015, Lawrence County in southwestern Missouri began a process to consolidate and modernize all the 911 systems for its various agencies, including the county sheriff, nine municipal police and fire departments, fire districts, and ambulance districts. The municipality of Aurora stated that it would save $400,000 by joining the new, countywide 911 system and closing its own system. The combined system is currently investing in an upgraded 911 center to provide even better service to the county.

There are many more opportunities for 911 consolidation around the state and in the Lake region. Municipal police departments aren’t limited to sharing service with other police departments; they can operate together with fire districts, county sheriffs, university police departments, ambulance districts, and more. The economies of scale allow for greater enhancement of technology in larger 911 systems, and it saves taxpayer money, just like in Lawrence County and elsewhere in Missouri.

Change may not be easy, but consolidating 911 systems is the perfect opportunity to both invest in better public safety for cities and better manage tax dollars.

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The debate over municipal limits on renting out your own property is happening all over Missouri, but most immediately in Lake Ozark and the City of St. Louis. In Lake Ozark, which currently bans short-term rentals in much of the city, the city council is voting Tuesday night on amending the zoning laws and allowing short-term rentals in certain parts of the city. I am opposed to municipalities having a comprehensive ban on short-term rentals. In a tourism-driven area like the Lake, it makes even less sense to have an outright ban.

The arguments for allowing short-term rentals are that: (a) you have right to rent out your own property if you wish to (b) allowing more rental options is good for the tourism industry and local economy; and (c) complaints about the rentals are often overblown, and police or regulators can handle such problems as they arise.

I agree with all of that—but even if you believe with all your heart that zoning violates property rights, the courts have decided that zoning is legal. So, if zoning regulations where you live say you can’t rent out your property, you may need a better argument. Point (b) is hard to dispute, and while point (c) is also true in my opinion, I understand why homeowners next door to the property that is the exception—with lots of parties, noise, crime, etc.—may want their city to take more proactive action.

The legitimate arguments against allowing short-term rentals are also straightforward. Too many of them do involve large parties and general mayhem. More importantly, one has to have sympathy for the property rights of the people who bought a home or condo under existing zoning laws that limited or prohibited such rentals, and are now seeing people trying to change (or governments ignoring) those laws. I support allowing short-term rentals, but I won’t be cavalier about the property investments people made with the understanding such things are not allowed.

It’s a tough issue. I think short-term rentals should be allowed in a tourist area like Lake Ozark (and the entire Lake region), but I understand that limits and rules may be necessary. In more residential locations, tighter limits may be appropriate. However you look at it, this issue isn’t going away in Missouri anytime soon.

I’ll be writing more soon on the role homeowners associations can play in this issue and how short-term rentals should be taxed.

The post Short-term Rentals, Long-term Questions appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

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Although it’s a little trite, “the early bird gets the worm” is harmless enough as far as old sayings go. Still, living by those words is one thing, and governing by them—as Lake Ozark seems to be doing—is quite another.

Food truck operators want to set up business along The Strip in the city of Lake Ozark, but the Planning and Zoning Commission is prohibiting them from doing so. While identifying consumer desire for food truck options in this area, the Commission says that its intent is to protect brick-and-mortar businesses that are already there. As the daughter of a restaurant owner, I fully support brick-and-mortar businesses, but why is the Planning and Zoning Commission choosing to protect these businesses at the expense of others, namely food trucks? Why are we only allowing the early bird a chance at getting the worm?

The commission fears that food trucks would compete with existing businesses. That is not something that should be feared; it should be expected and encouraged. In the same way that existing businesses compete with one another, food trucks should compete with other restaurants—and may the best food and dining experience win! It’s through this competition that we end up with a collection of businesses that consumers really want. That’s how competition in the market should work; consumers, not commissioners, pick winners and losers. It shouldn’t be the early bird that gets the worm, but the best bird.

After the Great Recession, many were looking for cheaper, on-the-go food options, and a lot of culinary experts were unemployed, laying the groundwork for a surge of food trucks. (And it’s not a stretch to think that our current economic situation could increase the demand for food trucks even more.) From 2013 to 2018, the number of food truck establishments in the U.S. doubled, employing over 16,000 workers in 2018 and reporting sales of $1.2 billion in 2017 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. More options increase the chance that consumers find exactly what they are looking for at a price they are willing to pay. Additionally, more businesses mean more entrepreneurship and opportunities for workers.

Other cities have found ways for food trucks to operate that would be better options than an outright prohibition. For example, Clayton allows for food trucks to operate for city or private events provided that they follow specific guidelines. Branson prohibits food trucks from operating within 100 feet of a restaurant and also allows for food truck courts. While these examples still place regulatory burdens on the food trucks, they show that there are ways for brick-and-mortar restaurants and food trucks to coexist.

Existing businesses should not receive special treatment just because they already exist. We allow brick-and-mortar restaurants to compete with one another—is it really that dangerous to allow them to compete with food trucks? Lake Ozark says it’s working on an ordinance to lay the groundwork for food trucks operating in the area. I say, let all the birds go and see which one gets the worm.

WATCH: More From Show-Me on Food Trucks

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So when the St. Louis County TIF Commission voted the atrocious Maryland Heights proposal down last year 7-5 (with all county members and a Parkway school board member voting no), it was fantastic news. It was not the first defeat of an awful subsidy proposal in Missouri, but it was certainly one of the most important when you consider the amount of damage—fiscal, economic, and environmental—the project would have done. That’s why such a large consortium of individuals and groups opposed the project.

Of course, the City of Maryland Heights wasn’t going to take this decision lying down. No, it was going to do all it could to make sure it was able to use other people’s tax dollars to subsidize a hugely damaging project. So, after the vote, the city sued to overturn the decision of the TIF commission, claiming the commission itself was improperly constructed. Would the city have sued claiming the commission was improperly constructed if the commission had voted to pass the TIF? To ask the question is to answer it.

The great news that came down on Tuesday is that the court upheld the decision of the TIF commission and decided against Maryland Heights. This is a big win for taxpayers everywhere, and hopefully it will help inspire people around the state to continue opposing these types of tax giveaways with renewed fervor. I hope people are listening in Boonville, Lake Ozark, Kansas City, Chesterfield, and beyond. You can stand up to these awful local government plans and win.

The post A Big Win for Taxpayers in Maryland Heights appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

When troubled or sickly aristocratic English youth needed a place to recuperate in private away from their cruel stepparents, they would go to Secret Gardens, where magic and mystery would solve all of their problems. We don’t need mysterious places to address our transportation needs in Missouri, and most of our “Secret Gardens” are actually illegal meth labs. But, amazing as it may seem, there really is a local transportation funding option that is unknown to most municipal officials in Missouri. Local gas taxes are a little-used yet very efficient method of funding important local transportation priorities for cities like Lake Ozark as it considers ways to improve Bagnell Dam Boulevard and Valley Road.

I know what you’re thinking. If there is tax that most politicians don’t know about, why would you tell them? Our gas taxes are low in Missouri, and Missouri voters clearly like them that way, as attempts to raise our second-lowest-in-the-nation rate have consistently failed at the polls.

That low tax rate has benefits and costs. If you stop at a gas station near the state border, you can’t help but notice the large percentage of license plates from border states gassing up over here in Missouri. Those drivers do much of their driving in other states but choose to give us their tax dollars for Missouri roads.

But the low gas tax has costs, too. Missouri’s roads and bridges could certainly be in better shape. A 2019 report from the Federal Highway Administration ranked our roads as 8th worst in the nation. We don’t want to commit the logical fallacy of drawing causation from correlation, but there might be a connection between those 2nd-lowest taxes and those 8th-worst roads. Even for roads in good condition, increases in population, tourism, and more can burden a system.

The fact is, we need to invest more in our road and bridge system in Missouri, and our local roads are no exception. Local roads are maintained by cities and counties, not the state, and are funded by a mixture of the state gas tax, local property taxes, and sales taxes. Unfortunately, local sales taxes are the mechanism most frequently expanded to fund local roads, and they are the worst option of the three. Funding roads by sales taxes subsidizes the act of driving by charging shoppers in a manner unconnected to driving. Walkers, bikers, or carpoolers will pay just as much as solo drivers for road improvements. People who can drive on roads without directly paying for their upkeep will drive more than they otherwise would, with the resulting extra traffic, pollution, and other road issues.

Ideally, the cost of driving should be connected as closely as possible to the act of driving. Lake Ozark city leaders are currently considering a sales tax-based transportation development district (TDD) to fund improvements to Bagnell Dam Boulevard and Valley Road, both key roads for the region. A better option for funding local roads like these would be a local gas tax. A local gas tax fixes the discrepancies that sales tax funding methods generate and, more importantly, can raise substantial money for road improvements.

Seven cities in Missouri have adopted local gas taxes. By law, the money raised from these taxes can only be spent on roads within those communities. All of the local gas taxes enacted have been very low—none higher than two cents per gallon. Even at that low level, they can raise significant money, but none of these seven cities have the combination of local population and tourism that Lake Ozark has. With those tourists, a local fuel tax of just two cents per gallon could potentially bring over one hundred thousand dollars per year on top of the existing road revenue sources. That money would fund a substantial amount of road improvements for Lake Ozark, all while properly maintaining the connection between the act and cost of driving. Or, if Camden and Miller county leaders have similar concerns, countywide gas taxes could be implemented that would raise even more money.

Lake Ozark is the heart of an area vital to our state. The residents who live there and the tourists who visit need and deserve quality roads. A local gas tax would be an efficient and beneficial way to fund road maintenance and improvement. Community leaders and residents should strongly consider passing one this year. Lake Ozark does not need a hidden code or a secret garden to deal with its transportation issues, just community support to address these key improvement needs.

The post Local Gas Taxes Are the Secret Garden of City Road Funding Options appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The city claims it needs $3 million to repair an important local road but lacks the funding to do so. The city’s leaders are considering a transportation development district (TDD) to raise money for the road through an extra sales tax, which would effectively subsidize road maintenance via shopping. My colleague David Stokes has already written about why a TDD is a poor remedy for this problem.

Fortunately, there is a better solution—local fuel taxes. Fuel taxes can be an economically sound and fair way to raise money for roads. They ensure that those who benefit from the roads also pay for them.

As the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission has noted, funding roads through methods not related to their use (such as sales taxes) promotes inefficient vehicle and travel choices. This, in turn, leads to faster road deterioration, wasted fuel, traffic congestion, and air pollution. If the sales tax (via the TDD) is a ploy to get tourists to help foot the bill for road maintenance, it should be noted that the same tourists would also pay the fuel tax. However, fuel taxes connect the cost of driving and the cost of using the roads.

Local fuel taxes allow localities to raise money for roads within their jurisdictions. When enacted, an additional fee is added to the price at the pump in a given jurisdiction. And since the Missouri Constitution requires that money raised from local fuel taxes be spent only on road construction and maintenance, it reduces the risk of this revenue being spent on other, potentially wasteful projects.

One potential challenge is that local fuel taxes can be tough to enact. The Missouri Constitution requires that local fuel taxes be passed with a two-thirds majority among voters. If it chooses to pursue it, Lake Ozark would be one of the first localities in Missouri to enact a local fuel tax. Foristell tried to enact one several years ago, but the measure fell just short with 65 percent voter approval. However, it was able to pass a 1 cent local fuel tax the following year.

Ultimately, before sales or other tax increases, local fuel taxes are an option worth considering as a fair solution to the City of Lake Ozark’s funding predicament.

The post The City of Lake Ozark Should Consider a Local Fuel Tax appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

A recent state audit of TDDs highlights the problems with these districts. Five of the twelve TDDs mentioned in the report collected incorrect tax amounts. I’ll let you guess as to whether they collected more or less than authorized. (Hint—it was more.) Statewide, 92 percent of TDDs have been formed by developers and were not subject to any votes or public involvement. Not surprisingly, when you allow private developers to raise tax dollars for private purposes (like improved parking lots for their own developments) they are going to act like it is private money, not tax money, and often spend it improperly. Audits on these types of special taxing districts by state auditors of both political parties have consistently found that they frequently violate the Sunshine Law, do not competitively bid out contracts, make errors in tax collections, and more. They are designed in the first place to act like fiefdoms, with little oversight of the tax dollars being collected and spent for private purposes by the developers that almost always dominate the board. The problems with these districts are, in fact, so consistent that they must be considered a feature, not a bug.

This proposed TDD will require voter approval in the April 2021 elections. Seeking voter approval here is, obviously, a good choice. However, only voters who live within the TDD itself can vote on the proposal, not all  Lake Ozark voters. I would expect the district to be gerrymandered until it looks like the lake itself in order to limit voter participation and help guarantee passage of the TDD. That is the prior experience in Missouri.

In a news story on the new TDD, supporters cite the “high quality of roads within the Horseshoe Bend Special Taxing District” as an example of why the TDD would be beneficial. The high quality of roads in that district may well be true, but Horseshoe Bend is not a TDD—it is a traditional, property tax-based special road district. The distinctions are important. Special road districts like Horseshoe Bend are subject to voter input, property tax rollback mandates (when assessed valuation increases), and much more comprehensive budgeting and financial reporting requirements. If Lake Ozark residents want better roads along with oversight, transparency, checks, and balances, the creation of a taxing district like Horseshoe Bend is a legitimate option. Other good options include passing a local gas tax to pay for the road improvements or simply raising city or county property taxes to fund the road improvements.

Honesty demands that I admit the Lake Ozark Community Toll Bridge is a TDD and has been successful for the community. In this case, the tolls collected pay for the bonds that built the bridge, and most importantly, the act of driving is connected to the cost of driving. Sales tax TDDs, such as this proposal, do not have that connection.

If people want a new taxing district with questionable dealings, little oversight, and limited voter involvement, then a TDD is the way to go. While Marty Byrde might approve of that, I trust the rest of the residents and taxpayers of the Lake Ozark region do not.

The post Lake Ozark Area Going in the Wrong Direction with Transportation Funding appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

To read the full testimony: .

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The first commenter over at Mound City Money stated that if the toll is raised, he will avoid the bridge. Really? So, if the toll is raised to, say, $3.50 from $2.50, that extra buck will cause you to add 45 minutes to your trip? Really? Even if we take out the value of your time, the added driving will at a minimum use up an extra gallon of gas, at an extra price equal to the toll. So you’d be at best dead even (and worse-off in many cars) without considering the value of the 45 minutes you previously saved. I have to think that it sounds perfectly reasonable to increase the toll to the level that the ratings agency is calling for.

The decrease in Lake Ozark bridge traffic can pretty clearly be attributed to the decrease in overall traffic at the lake, as the second Mound City Money commenter notes, and as we saw earlier this year in articles about sales tax collections in the Lake Ozark area (I remember reading them, but am unable to locate them online right now). To find someone who has chosen to reduce his time boating at the Lake this year because of high gas prices, I only have to walk down the hall to my boss’ office.

I say they should raise the bridge toll by $1 in season and 25 cents out of season. I doubt that would have any serious effect on traffic. Or, better yet, just lease the entire thing to a private company and make the bonds an entirely private matter …

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From the article, here are the basics of the plan:

The plan envisions a 4,000-mile network of new toll roads, with car and truck lanes, rail lines, and pipeline and utilities zones, to bypass congested cities and speed freight to and from Mexico.

The reasons behind the new ideas are also pretty clear:

Critics abound, but experts say Texas is addressing a problem certain to worsen nationally in coming decades: the price of gasoline may be rising but revenue from gasoline taxes is not, and with the rise of more fuel-efficient vehicles, less money is being raised for highway projects, even as traffic grows.

So transportation planners are increasingly looking to the private sector to put up construction money for toll roads in return for revenue from motorists.

“We’re relying on 1993 income for 2008 output,” said Robert Harrison, deputy director of the Center for Transportation Research at the University of Texas in Austin. “It’s unsustainable.”

The obvious question here is whether Missouri should consider similar ideas. Please note that Texas may be thinking bigger than other states, but California, Virginia, Florida, and other states are embracing public-private partnerships for transportation projects, too. In my opinion, Missouri should give very strong consideration to these ideas — although on a smaller scale — for the near future, at least.

For one thing, Missouri is not growing nearly as fast as the states listed above, so our needs are not as great as Texas’. However, we do have major transportation needs that we may be best able to address through PPPs. The success of the only toll remaining in our state, at the Lake Ozark bridge, demonstrates the opportunities available in PPPs. (I should be clear that the Lake Ozark bridge was not built as a PPP, but as it’s a toll it is comparable.)

The Show-Me Institute, along with the Reason Foundation, will be releasing a major study on this topic around the end of this month. Much more to come from us on this issue then!

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