Boone County Sheriff asks commission to consider adding sales tax to ballot

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Boone County Commission is considering adding a sales tax increase to the future ballot, even as county residents might have to vote on tax measures from both the state and the City of Columbia.

Boone County Sheriff Dwayne Carey brought the increase to the Boone County Commission to help fund the construction of a new Boone County Jail.

"The Sheriff recognizes the need to get ahead of our detainee housing issues," Capt. Brian Leer of the Boone County Sheriff's Office said. "As you know, the cost for housing detainees out of county has grown drastically over the last few years, and we think this problem is only going to continue to grow."

Leer said the office has 392 detainees, and 210 of those are in out-of-county facilities. The office is paying for more than 190 detainees to be housed in other county jails. He said the cost to house out-of-county detainees from January to March this year was around $1.12 million.

Carey has not yet brought a formal proposal for a tax increase to the Boone County Commission. However, Boone County Presiding Commissioner Kip Kendrick told ABC 17 News they anticipate a request to be made within the next month.

The City of Columbia recently tabled a 1% sales tax for public safety during a City Council meeting on Monday. If approved, the proposal would be on the August ballot. All revenue from the tax would go to the Columbia Police and Fire departments. Improvements include staffing several dozen staff for both departments and adding new vehicles. CPD would also like a new headquarters.

This may also cause additional strain on the Boone County Jail if passed.

"Any time that the city of Columbia police makes arrests, that's going to lead to potentially additional prosecutions, additional people within the jail and there's potentially different, additional court dates," Boone County Auditor Kyle Rieman said. "It all kind of has a downstream effect and impact on each other."

In a news release on Monday, Rieman acknowledged the need for additional public safety funding while also highlighting the rising costs Boone County is facing across the board.

"Tariffs, increased gas prices and growing demand of a tech sector that's definitely been a growing cost across county governments," Rieman said.

The release alluded to the general increased cost of living due to tariffs and inflation, as well as Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe's initiative to eliminate income tax.

“As the state and federal governments continue to cut their own tax bases, the programs that support local governments are often the first on the chopping block," Rieman, a Democrat, said. "Costs are rising faster than dedicated revenue across virtually every part of county government. Affordability is a growing concern, for the city, for the county, and most of all the citizens of Boone County."

Rieman adds that local departments have also needed to rethink funds due to changes to state funding.

"The state or the fed, they would give assistance through grants, now they are no longer providing those or may not be providing those," Rieman said. "we're having to make the decision on whether or not to backfill that with other resources or discontinue providing those services."

Rieman wrote that, if approved by both the Columbia City Council and Boone County Commission, coordinating when those tax measures will appear on the ballot is key.

“The city and county serve many of the same people, and those people are already feeling fiscally squeezed,” Rieman wrote. “We shouldn’t be sending the voters of our community mixed messages or competing requests in a vacuum from what the state is asking. At a time when trust in government is at historic lows, local leaders owe voters a clear, coordinated plan that takes affordability seriously and a ballot they can understand.”

Kendrick said the Commission has been in communication with the City of Columbia and that talks with city officials and Carey are ongoing.

"We're going to work over the next few weeks to try and continue to see what the potential impact will be to help inform the county commission as they consider whether or not to put this forth to the voters," Rieman said.