By Mark Marberry, Associate Commissioner Seond District
STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. – Author’s Note: The following is an email that I sent out as secretary of the SEMO County Commissioners District to the commissioners in 17 counties. Some of this is the fallout from your county commissioners attempting to retain the financial well-being of our county and others, and being subjected to various phases of indifference and antagonism from our legislators. The exceptions to this misbehavior were our own legislators, Rep. Bryant Wolfin and Sen. Mike Henderson.
To paraphrase Mark Twain: “You can’t swing a cat by the tail without hitting a corporate lobbyist in Jefferson City”. They run the show, your legislators and you do not.
COMMENTARY ON RECENT EVENTS
Presiding Commissioners Jim Scaggs of Iron County and Randy Ruzicka of Ste. Genevieve County along with Ste. Genevieve County Sheriff Gary Stolzer and myself testified at the Special Committee for Intergovernmental Affairs regarding passing HB321 sponsored by Rep. Bryant Wolfin to remove local sales and use tax exemptions for various industries. It went about as expected. Those of us who lay awake at nights trying to figure out how to meet financial commitments were drowned out by big-money interests. The next Monday evening, HB321 failed in committee (surprise).
A lot of you joined us later that week at training with the County Commissions Association of Missouri (CCAM). I do enjoy meeting other commissioners and vendors and learning new things. A couple of sessions made me feel warm-actually red hot-all over. Rich AuBuchon of the AuBuchon Law Firm and Ray McCarty, President/CEO of Associated Industries of Missouri spoke at the conference. To go from a legislative hearing earlier in the week and then face those at CCAM who are extremely adverse to the financial well-being of some the state’s counties has me raising some questions.
I don’t appreciate our county paying $8,000 to an organization to listen to lobbyists who oppose us. There could have been some speakers that are interested in trying to help our counties, but I suppose that would be too much to ask. Some commissioners are asking why we are paying dues to the Missouri Association of Counties, the overseer of this group.
SAVING MONEY YOU DON’T HAVE
I am not surprised that during a hearing on removing taxes on food items (SB 57), Sen. David Gregory wasn’t concerned about the sales taxes funding local governments. He was quoted in the Missouri Independent, “I know with 100% certainty that there are ways to save money within government operations”. To this I say with 100% certainty that Sen. Gregory needs to get out of Chesterfield and visit Iron, Bollinger or Wayne Counties.
Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, (R-Arnold), has sponsored the bill. The local sales taxes would be phased out over a few years. In a hearing before the Senate Economic and Workforce Development Committee, she was quoted by the Missouri Independent, “If our local communities need to take a vote to the people to ask if they’d like to have an offset by adjusting the other sales tax rates,” Coleman said. “This would give them time to do so.”
While I am in favor of wanting the local citizens to have their say in what they want, it’s the usual trick-bag of legislators to dump the “local control” convenient construct on local governments. Putting anything on a ballot can cost five-figure sums, an amount that can be a strain on many already cash-strapped local governments. Besides, Sen. Coleman seems to be unaware that at the rate the legislature is currently going, we won’t have any local sales taxes to shift this offset to.
Local control is about leaving local governments out of legislation, period. Local control is not foisting cult-like mantras of intellectual dishonesty on counties where commissioners are forced to approve or the voters vote for an astoundingly bad bill like SB190-SB756 because it is sold by vacuous politicians in Jefferson City. There are legislators who believe that artifice is fixed. The legislature’s idea of local control is to meddle around doing damage and confiscating revenues from local governments and then force the local governments to have local voters vote on how to bail out the mess. This is total dishonesty as big as Missouri.
Missouri Legislature motto for local control, simplified: “We will wreck you, you fix it yourself!”
When I have studied these types of bills exempting local sales taxes, I find they originate from legislators in urban or suburban districts with high population counts and presumably large budgets. It seems to engender an absolute blazing ignorance and most likely indifference to the financial state of the majority of counties and cities in the state.
Hey Senators Gregory and Coleman, out here in the middle of nowhere, we can’t save or offset money when you keep taking it away from us!
Below is an email cc’d to me by Jim Scaggs.
Representative Harbison,
As you are aware, broadband has been a top priority for both the United States and Missouri. Consequently, multiple federal grants have been allocated to achieve this objective. These grants provide funding for companies to deploy broadband in rural Missouri, using taxpayers’ dollars to supplement this major capital investment. The Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announced that Missouri will receive more than $1.7 billion through the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, part of the federal Infrastructure, Investment, and Jobs Act (IIJA). Missouri’s BEAD program allocation ranks as the third highest among all states. Therefore, the majority of the cost to deploy broadband has been covered by these federal grants.
This development will greatly benefit the citizens of Missouri. However, the opportunity for local governments to allocate funding for future growth due to broadband deployment will be limited if HB 743 becomes law. This bill proposes another sales and use tax exemption that is not necessary to comply with the Wayfair/Use Tax Commerce Law. It appears to be another measure that prevents these broadband companies, which use taxpayer dollars to deploy broadband, from contributing their fair share.
I am seeking to understand the necessity of continually passing laws that exempt corporations from taxes while simultaneously passing bills that increase taxes on Missouri citizens. A similar situation occurred when the legislature passed the Wayfair/Use Tax in 2021. How can local governments continue to provide essential services to facilitate growth when the State Legislature continues to exempt selected groups of corporations and companies from sales tax?
In conclusion, Iron County strongly opposes SB 185 & HB 743 or any exemptions that continue to reduce our local revenues.
Sincerely,
Jim Scaggs
Presiding Commissioner
Tax Exemption – Broadband
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, Energy, and the Environment convened Tuesday morning to discuss passage of SB 185, sponsored by Senator Mike Cierpiot (R-Lee’s Summit). For all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, the bill authorizes a state and local sales tax exemption for machinery and equipment used to provide broadband communications service by a broadband communications service provider. After no discussion, the committee passed the bill by a 6-0 vote.
What a mess!
Your enemy of the state,
Mark Marberry
Associate Commissioner Second District
Ste. Genevieve County Missouri
55 S. Third Street
Ste. Genevieve MO 63670
Courthouse: 573-883-5589 Ext. 2