(Missourinet) – Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway says taxpayers are on the hook for billions of dollars in city project costs they didn’t approve.

A report from Galloway’s office Wednesday claims a lack of oversight for community improvement districts, or CIDs, has allowed for spending decisions to be made without much taxpayer input.

CIDs are special taxing districts designed to fund development projects.

Galloway says Missouri needs to reform state law because local governments can form districts with vague purposes and time frames and can change their purpose after being established.  She says that in the vast majority of CIDs, voters do not approve the additional taxes.

Galloway cited an example in Springfield where the public paid more than $225,000 in taxes after a project was completed.  In another example, taxpayers paid over $75,000 for lawn and landscaping services to a company owned by a board chairman in Lee’s Summit near Kansas City.

Listed in the report, the 15 CIDs across the state that were reviewed in detail included 2317 Belt CID and East Hills CID in St. Joseph. The report stated that the districts were not selected due to any known issues or concerns, but are considered representative of the entire population of CIDs throughout the state. The report stated, in looking at the petition documents for the 15 CIDs reviewed, it was determined 10 of them (67 percent) did not have a well-defined purpose. Those 10 included 12th & Wyandotte CID, 2317 Belt CID, Black Mountain CID, Capital Mall CID, East Hills CID, Hope Valley CID, Miner Gateway CID, North Oaks Plaza Shopping Center CID, Park Ridge CID, and Ward Parkway Shopping Center CID.

The auditor’s report outlined recommendations to improve transparencies of CIDs.

To view the report, click here.

Missourinet media partner KOLR-TV contributed this story

(Missourinet) – Chillicothe is placing signs soon to show its support for America’s soldiers who have received the Purple Heart medal.

City Administrator Darin Chappell said the signs will state the northwest Missouri town is known as a “Purple Heart City” to pay respect to the medal recipients who have been wounded or killed in combat.

“It’s something that many communities across the state have done,” he says. “This is just in recognition of those individuals who, during combat, were wounded, received the Purple Heart and recognize the support that we have for such dedicated servants of our community and our society.”

Missouri has more than 120 cities, villages, counties and organizations recognizing Purple Heart medal soldiers in such a way.

Chappell says the declaration process is more than a year in the making.

“There will be four signs purchased for $100 each,” he says. “There will be one north and south on Highway 65 and one east and west on Highway 36.”

The signs will go up at the city limits.

(Missourinet) – A new report shows car theft is on the rise in Missouri, especially in all major metro areas.

For the first time, the report ranks St. Joseph and Springfield in the top ten for auto theft rate. According to the State Highway Patrol, some 18,000 vehicles were stolen in Missouri in 2016. The state’s 2017 car theft figures have not been finalized but they are expected to increase even more.

Kevin Gamble with State Farm Insurance tells Missourinet the number of auto thefts has been trending upwards in the United States since 2016.

“Property crime, in general, in the United States has dropped considerably over the last couple of decades, but vehicle thefts specifically have not dropped to the same extent,” he says.

Last year, Kansas City had the most car thefts with more than 9,700. St. Louis followed with about 8,100. Gamble says the two major cities have traditionally had similar figures.

The report, conducted by the National Insurance Crime Bureau, also tracks the theft rate or number of vehicle thefts per 100,000 population. According to the report, as a population-based survey, an area with a much smaller population and a moderate number of thefts can—and often does—have a higher theft rate than an area with a much more significant vehicle theft problem and a larger population to absorb it. Which is how St. Joseph, with 952 thefts, places 5th while Los Angeles, with 60,444 thefts places 33rd.

“Some aspects of this time of crime activity are the familiar ones – break-ins, individuals having their vehicles stolen,” Gamble says. “But to some extent, we’ve seen trends where thieves had to become a little more resourceful because of all the additional security features that are built into cars now. In some cases, you’re seeing them shift their targets to things like rental car fleets, more sort of identity theft type of crimes or falsifying vehicle titles, things of that nature. There may be some emerging trends in the types of thefts that are happening along with the overall amount of crime that is going on.”

Gamble says the most frequently stolen cars are Honda Accords and Civics and Ford and Chevy full-size trucks.

“Those are traditionally frequently stolen vehicles,” he says. “Many different model years are high in the list of stolen vehicles. As far as newer models of vehicles, the Toyota Camry and the Nissan Altima are some of the top stolen cars, but overall for make and model it’s the Hondas and the Ford and Chevy pickups.”

Gamble says the average loss per car theft is about $7,600.

“That’s a pretty big impact individually on consumers. When you consider that adds up to potentially tens of thousands of thefts in the state of Missouri and nearly 800,000 across the country, there’s a big impact on the economy from this activity,” he says.

Gamble says nearly 30,000 vehicles a year are stolen with the keys left in the cars.

To see the report, click here.

(Missourinet) – A ribbon cutting earlier this week celebrated Nestle’s official purchase of the former Conagra factory in Trenton.

The ceremony symbolizes a path forward for the community of 6,000 people that was on the brink of losing its largest employer.

Conagra began making final plans to close its factory there earlier this year. Some 200-300 workers were preparing to face the unemployment line. The planned loss of Conagra caused utility rates to spike.

Then, Nestle changed what could have been an economic nightmare for the area. In April, the company announced its intentions to buy the plant and keep the assembly line going with little disruption. What had been a gloomy place for the past two years suddenly gave the people in the area a morale boost.

About 75 people gathered Tuesday to celebrate Nestle’s takeover of the former Conagra factory. Rick Klinginsmith with Farmers Bank of Northern Missouri in Trenton was among the crowd of supporters. He tells Missourinet the last two years have been a rollercoaster ride for the area.

“I think the confidence of the community is what we all struggled with for the 18 to 20 months until we had something that gave us closure,” Klinginsmith says. “It’s going to take some time until we see the confidence fully regained but it is definitely coming back.”

Mike Voorhies, the plant’s union president, says morale is a night and day difference from two years ago when Conagra announced its plans to close the site.

“We’re working five days a week instead of seven days a week. We’re seeing our families more. We’re getting to do more,” Voorhies says.

Klinginsmith hopes Nestle’s efforts will improve the county’s unemployment rate currently hovering over 4%.

“We still remain with a fairly high unemployment rate in our county,” he says. “We’ve got worked yet to do. This announcement doesn’t cure everything, but it is a tremendous step forward.”

The factory includes 150 full-time employees and 99% were previously Conagra workers. Two shifts, along with overtime, are underway at the plant.

Nestle workers make an average of more than $41,000 annually. The company plans to continue operating as an organized union factory.

Other dignitaries at the event included Republican State Rep. Rusty Black of Chillicothe, Republican Sen. Dan Hegeman of Cosby and former Democratic State Rep. Phil Tate of Gallatin.