In this column, I talked about how Missouri's county mill tax came about. Then Southeast Missourian librarian Sharon Sanders emailed a note saying she had some of the tax tokens in our archives. Fred Lynch took the photo, which also shows some old Interurban tokens.
The mental health mill tax books update
The tax token question came up after a half-dozen members of Cape Girardeau County's mental health mill tax board quit.
The board's treasurer, Cindi Kramer, abruptly resigned last month after a dustup with Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones over getting the board's books audited.
By law, mental health mill tax board books are supposed to be audited every year. But it's been four years since Auditor David Ludwig looked at the books. He's recovering from a recent surgery and is expected to be out of the office for several weeks.
The county's senior deputy auditor, Virgie Koeppel, had been trying to get the mill tax board's books since August, but Kramer said a series of family issues prevented her from turning them over. She delivered them, with her resignation, after Jones told another tax mill board member he was ready to send a sheriff's deputy to collect them.
Some Sunshine
Well, now the county commission's assistant, Robb McClary, has them, with instructions to do a thorough review. So far, McClary told me Monday, the figures are balancing, though he's trying to document the paper trail related to the investments. He said no wrongdoing is suspected, but he plans to write a list of recommendations to standardize bookkeeping practices for all county boards that manage funds.On Friday, I filed a Sunshine Law request to see the books. On Monday, McClary said the county could copy all 700-plus pages of documents at a cost allowed by the Sunshine Law, which limits the per-copy price to 10 cents per page and and hourly rate for making the copies.
As fellow blogger J.P. Clubb pointed out on Nov. 11, the law also allows a government agency to charge an hourly fee for making the copies, but it isn't supposed to exceed the average hourly rate of pay for clerical staff of that body.
I think the rate of $16 and change for making the copies that McClary suggested was on the high side -- or Cape Girardeau has some very well-paid clerical staff. At any rate, I'll be eyeballing the books this week to see what, if any copies, are needed.
More importantly, McClary made a public report to the county commission about where he was at with the books, and I understand he will continue to make public reports.
