(Missourinet) – A 2016 review shows compliance among Missouri’s taxing authorities on property tax rates. This is the second year since the State Auditor’s Office began reviewing property tax rates in 1985 that no taxing authorities levied a tax rate above the tax rate certified. Last year was the first.
Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway’s office reviews rates to determine whether they are compliant with state law and to monitor rate adjustments to ensure revenue neutrality, as required by law. The audit provides property tax rates reported to the State Auditor’s Office for local government entities, such as cities, counties, and school and fire districts. In 2016, staff reviewed 4,848 property tax rates of 2,823 taxing authorities.
The office does not make recommendations on property tax rates or increases.
The complete review of 2016 property tax rates is available online here.
Auditor Galloway also released a summary report of findings from property tax systems and county collector offices. The report is online here.
Dr. Brett Chloupek and Ms. Michelle Allen have designed and constructed a virtual sandbox to be utilized by the Departments of Humanities and Social Sciences. April 28, 2016. (Photo by Todd Weddle | Northwest Missouri State University)
(News Release) MARYVILLE, Mo. – Assistant Professor of Geography Dr. Brett Chloupek was looking last year for a better way to teach landform interpretation to his maps and map interpretation class when he stumbled onto a YouTube video depicting a piece of technology that at first appeared complex.
“I got to reading about it and realized it was doable, we can build this,” Chloupek said.
Through some collaboration and ingenuity with Michelle Allen a lab technician in the Department of Natural Sciences, students are seeing geography concepts under a new light with the impressive augmented reality sandbox.
The tool at first appears like a typical sandbox. But the sand surface becomes a virtual playground for learning fundamentals of map interpretation when Chloupek turns on the computer, the three-dimensional Kinect camera and the projector suspended over the box.
The 3D camera maps the sand surface and measures elevational changes, feeding information to the computer. In return the projector displays contour lines onto the sand.
When students move the sand to form mountains, valleys and other landforms, the contour lines immediately shift to the new landscape.
“It looks complex, but the concept is actually really simple,” Chloupek said. “It’s something that students find a lot of interest in and something that’s usable beyond just geography.”
In addition to moving the sand to build a specific landscape, rain can be simulated by holding a hand over the surface, resulting in images of water flowing across the contour lines to lower elevations. Consequently, students learn how topography manages water.
Or the water feature may be changed to simulate volcanic eruptions and lava flow.
“By the time we get to the landform interpretation, it’s late in the trimester, the students are a little tired,” Chloupek said. “I can topographic map them to death, and this gets them up and out of the seats.”
It’s an addictive tool, and often students don’t realize they’re learning science concepts by running their fingers through the sand.
“(Associate Professor of Geology Dr. John Pope) said that for the first time he had students stay late after class,” Chloupek said.
Chloupek and Allen collaborated to secure funding from the departments of Natural Sciences and Social Sciences. They recycled some of their own resources, including computers, a server and a chemistry stand that they repurposed to construct a cart for the sandbox. The entire project cost less than $2,000 with the most expensive piece being a short throw projector to display imagery on the sand.
Pope provided the sand. Assistant Professor of Geology Dr. Arghya Goswami assisted by writing computing scripts that create more user-friendly buttons for the faculty and students who work with the sandbox.
Now the natural sciences department is considering other applications for the sandbox. It may provide additional opportunities for students studying ecology, earth science, and emergency and disaster management.
“For those people who come from other fields, this might be the first time they’ve ever had to look at topographic maps,” Chloupek said. “Some can do it, but something like this makes learning the concepts faster and more interesting.”
(Missourinet) – Missouri lawmakers are reviewing Governor Eric Greitens’ budget for the upcoming fiscal year which starts in July.
Greitens announced $572 million in cuts to state agencies and services in a formal address Thursday.
At a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee Tuesday, legislators made numerous observations and inquiries to the state’s acting Budget Director, Dan Haug, who offered more detailed information about the budget.
A number of Senators voiced concern that Greitens chose to remove $35 million in school transportation money. Republican Mike Cunningham of Rogersville thinks the decrease in funding will be acutely felt in his rural southern Missouri district.
“Something kind of rang home a couple of years ago,” said Cunningham. “I talked to a school district down there, and they said their bus trip was equal to a trip to Disney World every day and back to Orlando. And when you start thinking like that, how that effects our rural schools, it’s just incredible.”
Haug said the governor had to make difficult choices and opted to protect classroom funding at $3.3 billion, which actually includes an increase of $3 million.
Money for school transportation will decrease from $105 to $69 million under Greitens plan. Republican Rob Schaaf of St. Joseph noted the school’s themselves will now be forced to foot a larger portion of the transportation tab.
“The transportation money has to be paid by law, doesn’t it,” said Schaaf. “I mean if kids need to be transported, don’t they, by law, have to spend that money? So my point is that in order to spend that money, school districts have to take it out of the classroom.”
Democrat Kiki Curls of Kansas City, after getting clarification from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education that schools are required by law only to transport kids living more than three and a half miles from campus, said she shudders that young kids could be forced to walk such a distance.
Republican senators, particularly Schaaf, spent a good deal of time discussing ways to curb Medicaid costs at the hearing. Haug admitted the biggest area of uncertainty in the budget is healthcare costs.
About 250,000 individuals will be moving from a fee-for-service arrangement to managed care through an HMO or PPO within Medicaid in 2018. They’ll start to receive services in May, two months before the fiscal year begins.
Schaaf noted because of the set-up, about $100 million in medical bills would have to be paid out in the new fiscal year.
He also claimed a program to move rural Medicaid recipients to managed care from fee-for-service would be more costly to the state. Medicaid related issues consumed a large portion the hearing.
Warrensburg GOP state Senator Denny Hoskins took issue with the omission of the state’s biggest industry in the budget summary that committee members were given.
“The number one job and economic occupation in the state of Missouri, to the tune of $88 billion, is agriculture. And I don’t see anything in the summary related to agriculture.”
Haug detailed roughly $13 million in cuts to the state Agriculture Department with the majority of it, $8.9 million, coming from bio-diesel subsidies. Also stripped from agriculture for 2018 were new programs which were proposed for this year, but were restricted before they started because of budget shortages, including $2 million for a beef initiative and $1 million for an international trade office.
Another concern came from Republican Ryan Silvey of Kansas City, who wondered why the state is adding 100 employees who will be paid through the General Fund, or G.R., while so much money is being slashed overall.
“I think that’s important when we’re talking about GR and having a deficit, that we’re actually increasing 100 employees that we’re paying with GR. I think we need to know who those people are and why.”
Missouri’s overall budget totals $27 billion. Lawmakers can make adjustments to Greitens’ proposal, but must have a plan ready for him to look over by early May.
Lt. Governor Mike Parson speaks to the Missouri Economic Development Council winter conference in Jefferson City on February 7, 2017. Photo courtesy Brian Hauswirth/ Missourinet.
(Missourinet) – Missouri Lieutenant Governor Mike Parson (R) outlined his business agenda Tuesday in Jefferson City, before the Missouri Economic Development Council winter conference.
The Bolivar Republican spoke to about 150 business leaders, business owners and economic development professionals at the Council’s luncheon, which took place at the Capitol Plaza Hotel.
Parson wants to see more retirees move to the Show-Me State. He says about 10,000 Americans retire daily. He asked the crowd to imagine if just one percent of them moved to Missouri.
“Because if they’re from states like New Jersey or the East coast, New York, cost of living’s extremely high,” says Parson. “They make good money when they’re working, but how do we get them to Missouri where it’s a lot cheaper, a lot more relaxed atmosphere for them, and if we can get one percent, that’s more houses that’s more homes, that’s more groceries.”
Parson also wants to roll back what he describes as “frivolous regulations,” saying that Missouri’s regulatory environment “has gotten out of hand.” He told the audience that the biggest thing he heard from Missourians during the campaign involved government overregulation.
“I think everybody is concerned about government getting too far into their personal lives through the regulatory environment, and frankly, you know, to a certain point, it makes people in business decide hey, do we expand, do we not expand, what is this regulatory environment going to be,” Parson says.
Parson was elected as Missouri’s 47th Lieutenant Governor in November, beating former Congressman and former State Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-St. Louis).
Parson says he wants to ensure that Missouri is a competitive place to start a business and keep current businesses thriving.
He also emphasizes Missouri-made products and jobs, saying that 80 percent of new jobs in Missouri come from existing businesses.
Parson also spoke to Missourinet after his presentation, discussing his address as well as right-to-work and the tight state budget.
Lieutenant Governor Parson confirms he’ll have a “conversation” with Governor Eric Greitens (R) about the Governor’s proposal to reduce the Missouri Department of Agriculture’s budget from $53 million to about $40.4 million.
Parson tells Missourinet it’s still early in the budget process.
“You know the House (budget) version, the Senate version, so we’re a long way from the final version,” says Parson. “But, you know, he (Greitens) is the governor. So, he has every ability to make those changes and at some point I’ll go in there and I’ll make my pitch for agriculture like I always have, and we’ll let the chips fall where they fall.”
Parson says Greitens, a fellow Republican, has been “very open” to any conversation they’ve had. Parson, a third-generation farmer, has a cow and calf operation near Bolivar.
The state Constitution requires the Missouri Legislature to approve a balanced budget by early May.
Parson also says right-to-work will be “huge” for Missouri.
“And let’s face the facts, I know it’s a very divisive issue, a lot of emotions involved, but we’re 47 of 50 in the United States in job creations. You know, so it’s not working the way it is.”
Parson says right-to-work will help businesses statewide. The law is scheduled to take effect on August 28.
Senate Minority Leader Gina Walsh (D-Bellefontaine Neighbors) says it will hurt middle-class families that drive the economy.
Parson served six years in the Missouri Senate, before being elected Lieutenant Governor in November. He served three terms in the Missouri House before that, from 2005-2010.
IATP said farm, immigration debate should include rural communities.
(Missouri News Service) JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Agriculture and trade groups are voicing their concerns over President Donald Trump’s stance on immigration and his threats to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Trump’s calls to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico and possibly institute a tax on Mexican imports have led to political strains between the two countries.
The president also has said he will either renegotiate NAFTA to benefit Americans or withdraw from it altogether.
Karen Hansen-Kuhn, director of trade and global governance at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), said instead of pitting people in one country against another, NAFTA should be replaced so that it benefits all. She said rural farmers have been struggling to make a living under the current agreement.
“So much of the focus has been on producing as much as possible and depending on export market, and in the process, both because of provisions on tariffs and changes in investment rules, farmers have lost bargaining power,” she said.
Hansen-Kuhn said the Trump administration needs to take public comment and check with farmers and rural communities before making changes to NAFTA.
Hansen-Kuhn said Trump’s plan to build a wall between Mexico and the U.S. is outrageous, shortsighted and beneath the U.S. as a nation. She said America’s farm economy cannot function without those workers.
“Besides the fact that it’s a wrong headed proposal, I think it makes it pretty hard for the Mexican government to take any negotiations with the Trump administration because people there are understandably upset,” she said.
IATP also opposes parts of the Trans Pacific Partnership. But the group supports restoring “country-of-origin labeling” so consumers know where the meat they’re buying comes from, and it supports having more laws to regulate the dumping of foreign-grown fruits and vegetables into American markets, affecting local farmers’ profits.
(1 P.M.) – Governor Eric Greitens is doing ceremonial signings of Right-to-Work legislation today, after lawmakers made it the first piece of legislation sent to his desk this year.
At his first appearance in Springfield this morning, Greitens told KOLR the measure would boost employment.
Greitens is signing the bill in Poplar Bluff before returning to the capitol where he’ll ink the measure for a third time. Protesters demonstrated against Right-to-Work outside his appearance in Springfield.
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Photo courtesy Missourinet.
(Missourinet 8:47 A.M.) – Missouri’s long road to becoming a right to work state rocketed to breakneck speed this year.
Thanks to Republican super-majorities in the legislature, and finally a GOP governor, such legislation will be enacted into law quickly.
Governor Eric Greitens will hold two ceremonial signings of the bill Monday. One will take place at an abandoned warehouse in Springfield, while the other will occur in Poplar Bluff, 30 miles from the Arkansas border, where Greitens will declare Missouri is open for business. A third signing will take place Monday evening at the Capitol.
After the state House approved the Senate’s version of a right to work proposal last Thursday, interest groups who’d long lobbied for the law rushed out gleeful statements.
Americans for Prosperity – Missouri Director Jeremy Cady said “At long last workers in Missouri have been granted the basic freedom to work without fear of being fired for not paying a union.”
Brad Jones, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business said “This is a big victory for businesses in Missouri”.
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce expressed eagerness for the proposal to be finalized. In an email to Missourinet, the organization stated “Only one step remains to complete a decades-long journey to make Missouri a right-to-work state: a signature by Gov. Eric Greitens.”
While the ALL-CIO union gathered to demonstrate against the measure in the Capitol Rotunda Thursday, Senate President Pro Tem Ron Richard signaled the celebration was just beginning for him.
“This may be one of the greatest days in the history of Missouri as far as I’m concerned, on an issue that I’ve been working on for close to 16 years.”
At the other end of the spectrum was Senate Democratic leader Gina Walsh, who also presides over one of the state’s major labor organizations, the Missouri State Building and Construction Trade Council. For her, Thursday signaled the end of a long, contentious battle.
“Congratulations to them,” said Walsh. “They’ve been fighting that fight for 16 years. I’ve been fighting it for 41. So I will trump their 16 with my 41 years on that particular issue with labor.”
A Right to work law will prohibit any requirement for employees to join unions as a condition of employment.
When Governor Greitens signs the bill, Missouri will become the 28th state with such a statute in place.
Walsh says it’s a devastating, but not fatal blow to organized labor.
“I think that labor unions, they’re down but they’re not out. They will move on and they will figure out how to operate within the system they’ve been given.”
Professor Jake Rosenfeld of Washington University in St. Louis lends some substance to Walsh’s claim. As a sociologist who studies the issue, he points to Nevada as an example of a right to work state with robust union participation.
“Nevada workers who are covered by union contracts join the union,” said Rosenfeld. “They don’t have to. It’s a right to work state, but upwards of 90 percent choose to do so.”
Rosenfeld said he thinks organized labor in Missouri should look to Nevada as a model to follow.
Right to work laws now have a near omnipresence in the region. Seven of the eight states surrounding Missouri have such statutes in place after Kentucky enacted its law last month.
Senator Bob Dixon. Photo courtesy of Mike Lear/Missourinet.
(Missourinet) – Students are less likely, not more likely, to become a felon if they get into a fight or harass someone on school property, according to Sen. Bob Dixon (R-Springfield).
He says some students and parents have been misinformed about a change in criminal code law that began last month.
“That possibility has always existed. However, with the new criminal code, the chances of that becoming a reality are actually less. It’s very easy to pick one thing out of a 1,000 page bill and misinterpret it,” says Dixon. “There’s no hard feelings over it. I just wanted to make sure that the parents had the facts, that the students had the facts, that the schools have the facts and make it clear that we don’t need to change anything yet in the code.”
Dixon says the new law reduces the number of assault charges given to a person and reduces the number of mandatory sentences that involve assaults on school property.
“Many of these things can best be worked out by educators and school personnel. But yes, if there are extreme cases, they can certainly be referred to a prosecutor,” says Dixon.
Some say the change includes a broad definition of harassment.
Drones expected to be more common among Missouri farmers in 2017. Photo by Missourinet.
(Missourinet) – An ag technology specialist says drone technologies will be more readily available for commercial agriculture in Missouri this year because of new regulations from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Chad Colby with Colby Ag Tech says the FAA has simplified the process to become a registered drone operator and the technology is becoming more affordable.
“You can buy a great drone today for a couple thousand dollars that is amazing and three or four years ago it might have cost you $10,000 and not have the same technologies,” says Colby.
He says one of the best returns on the investment is more balance for family time.
“You drive by that 80 acre field and you’re trying to get home for your son or daughter’s baseball game in the middle of summer, you can throw a drone up in the air really quick, get a birds-eye view of that field,” says Colby. “Whether you’re using some advanced sensors or not, take that data back in the pickup truck and in two or three minutes determine ‘Oh my gosh, what am I looking at out in the field?’”
Missouri has more than 100,000 farms covering two-thirds of the state’s total land acreage.
Colby says if drone operators are going to charge for their services they need to register at knowbeforeyoufly.org.
(Missourinet) – Tougher eligibility requirements would boot about 20,000 elderly and disabled Missourians off of state aid for in-home and nursing home care under Governor Greitens’ proposed state budget that begins July 1. Rep. Gina Mitten (D-St. Louis) says taxpayers would ultimately pay the price.
“We’re cutting services in a way that pushes them into skilled nursing and other facilities that not only diminish quality of life, but also and, very importantly I think to the taxpayers, costs the taxpayers more,” says Mitten.
About 60,000 Missourians currently receive state aid for such services.
“The reduction in services to in-home care, to me, is a perfect example of the majority party being penny wise and pound foolish. Those services enable folks to live independently in their own homes and not only creates a quality of life for our senior citizens and persons living with disability, but more important, if we not provide those services in home at a much lower cost, the only other alternative is to then go to skilled nursing care,” says Mitten. “Why are we looking at cutting services that help people live independently in their own homes, live longer and have a great quality of life, which I think that should be a non-partisan issue.”
Greitens’ move would save about $52 million in his proposed $27 billion budget outline.
His spending plan also includes a 3% reduction in state reimbursements for Medicaid providers.
Greitens says Missouri’s budget is broken and blames Obamacare for spending cuts in the current and proposed budgets.
(Missourinet) – A state legislative committee has heard an annual presentation from the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT).
The agency’s director, Patrick McKenna, addressed state Senate and House member who sit on the Joint Committee on Transportation Oversight, which meets three times a year.
During his roughly 35 minute presentation, McKenna outlined the state’s five year plan to maintain and improve the 34,000 miles of road the MODoT oversees.
McKenna says the department is spending $4.4 billion, or just under $900 million a year, of existing money on projects between 2018 and 2022.
How the money is dispersed will be determined by regional and metropolitan planning organizations and the public. A plan will be formulated and put into place in June. McKenna says the spending will initially drain the state’s road fund into a deficit.
“We are drawing more out of the road fund than is coming over this period of time,” said McKenna. “But that is enabling us to make sure that we’re matching all of the federal funds in this plan as well, which was something that was a critical problem in the last couple of years.”
McKenna said the deficit is unsustainable over the long term, but something MoDOT can accept in the near term.
The state gets reimbursed with federal funds once a road project is complete. The federal matching funds account for 80 percent of the budget for all primary road projects in the state.
McKenna says the federal money is the main source of financing for infrastructure improvement in Missouri. The money was approved by Congress in 2015 through the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act.
During his address, McKenna stated the case for boosting resources for roads.
“Essentially we’re treading water at the level of funding today. We’re maintaining our system, but we are not improving it. We’re fixing and replacing just about as many bridges each year as fall into the poor category. We believe Missourians want more.”
McKenna ran down a list of stark numbers which place Missouri at a disadvantage in funding roads.
Missouri has the seventh biggest road and bridge system in the country, but ranks 47th in revenue per mile. At $50,000, Missouri’s revenue per mile is about a third of what neighboring Iowa generates, and less than 25 percent of the national average of $216,000 per mile. New Jersey generates $1.7 million per mile.
Funding for Missouri’s roads comes largely through the state’s gas tax, vehicle sales taxes and driver’s license fees.
McKenna also touched on concerns from several years ago that MoDOT was bloated and wasteful with spending. He said the department’s administrative costs of $52 million in 2016 translated to one dollar per month for the average driver.
“We are ranked by the Reason Foundation as the second lowest administrative cost DOT in the nation” said McKenna. “We’re very proud of that.”
MODOT made internal reforms in 2015 which resulted in a savings of $150 million a year. McKenna noted the agency gained efficiencies by consolidating ten operating districts into seven, reducing its workforce by 1,200 employees and closing about 160 sheds.
