Jefferson County 911 Dispatch will argue in court Oct. 7 to keep the 1/2-cent sales tax rate the agency has been receiving for nearly a decade.
The state Department of Revenue recently said it would begin collecting just a 1/4-cent sales tax for 911 on Oct. 1, despite the results of the April election when Jefferson Countians overwhelmingly voted to allow 911 to continue collecting a 1/2-cent sales tax instead of cutting it in half, as a sunset clause called for when voters originally approved the tax in 2009.
That DOR decision came after state Sen. Paul Wieland, R-Imperial, added an amendment that blocks 911 from collecting anything higher than a 1/4-cent sales tax to Senate Bill 291, which was enacted this year and “cleans up” 2018 legislation aimed at expanding 911 coverage into underserved parts of the state.
However, on Sept. 9, Jefferson County Div. 1 Circuit Judge Joe Rathert issued a temporary restraining order directing the Missouri Department of Revenue to keep collecting the 1/2-cent sales tax.
At the Oct. 7 hearing, which will start at 9 a.m., 911 will ask Rathert to make the temporary restraining order an injunction, which would allow the full 1/2-cent sales tax to be collected until the agency can challenge Wieland’s amendment in court, 911 Chief Travis Williams said.
911 officials have long argued that Wieland’s amendment unfairly singled out the agency.
The amendment stipulates that 911 agencies serving counties with a charter form of government and with a population between 200,000 and 350,000 cannot have a sales tax greater than 1/4 cent. Jefferson County is the only county in the state that meets that criteria, Williams said.
911 attorney Bob Sweeney said that information, along with information on the harm the DOR decision would do to 911, apparently persuaded Rathert to issue the temporary restraining order.
“We presented information on our impending damages and our ability to prevail on the merits,” Sweeney said.
In its April 2 election campaign, 911 asked voters to allow the district to continue collecting the 1/2-cent tax to provide funds to deal with an increase in calls and to meet the need for continual upgrades.
Prop 9-1-1 was approved, with 15,301 votes (70.67 percent) in favor of keeping the sales tax at 1/2 cent to 6,350 votes (29.33 percent) against. A simple majority was needed for approval.
Wieland lobbied against the tax measure, arguing that 911 does not need the money and should keep its promise to cut the sales tax in half as the sunset had called for.
In addition to campaigning against the April 2 tax measure, Wieland included language in his amendment that would reverse any vote or action taken to keep 911’s sales tax at 1/2 cent.
Williams said even though the 2019 legislation was signed by Gov. Mike Parson July 9, it happened after the April 2 election when voters approved Prop 9-1-1, so the new legislation was not in effect at the time of the vote.
On the other hand, the amendment also says, “If on the effective date of this section such tax is greater than one-quarter of one percent, the board shall lower the tax rate.”
Wieland did not return phone and email messages seeking comment for the story.