Commission adds Proposition C.O.P.S. to ballot

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It’s been a topic of discussion more than a year. Now, in a few months, Perry County voters will have their say.
The Perry County Commission unanimously approved an order Monday afternoon to place a referendum question on the April 2021 ballot, asking whether or not county residents want to impose a capital improvements sales tax of half of 1 percent for 20 years to fund a new joint justice center.
After 20 years from the date the tax is first imposed, it would continue at one-eighth of 1 percent (0.00125) “thereafter for the purpose of providing funding for construction and maintaining and paying related expenses for a County Justice Center in Perry County, Missouri.”
The sales tax in the city of Perryville, excluding the Perry Plaza Capital Improvement District, now stands at 7.975 percent while purchases made outside city limits are at 6.1 percent. If approved, it would increase the sales tax rate in Perryville to 8.475 percent and 6.6 percent for all other parts of the county.
All of the funds would be used for the building, construction and maintenance of the proposed justice facility.
“Collection of any referendum has to wait until a full quarter after the measure is approved by voters,” Kutz said.
“If adopted, the county wouldn’t see any revenue from the measure until October 2021,” Kutz said.
The proposed budget for a joint justice center is between $15 to $17 million, according to Kutz.
The acronym in Proposition C.O.P.S. stands for Courts Operations, Police Department and Sheriff Department, according to Perry County Clerk Jared Kutz. Operations in the facility would include 911 dispatch and other functions of emergency management and law enforcement.
The county has been consulting with architects and contracted with a financial advisor who won’t receive any compensation unless the referendum is approved.

“They will be our representative for obtaining financing for this project,” Kutz said.
“We first discussed placing the item on the ballot last year around this time and decided to hold off until maybe August, then Covid hit and they decided to push it back,” Kutz said. “Which turned out to be a good thing because since then we came up with a better plan including the court system.”
Even with a sales tax increase, Kutz said Perry County’s rate would still fall below other nearby counties.
“We would be below Ste. Genevieve and St. Francois County and we would be below sections of Cape Girardeau County,” Kutz said. “We’ve done the due diligence, we’ve met with all of the necessary personnel groups.”
Commissioners had been discussing the possibility of adding the question a year ago prior to the pandemic.
“We talked about putting it on the ballot last year, then covid hit,” told commissioners during Monday’s discussion. “Then, the judge approached us and told us of the security concerns. Here we are today. We’ve got courts, emergency management, 911 dispatch, all local law enforcement, sheriff and police. This is game-changing stuff. This is something that will impact our community a lot longer than any of us are here. I never think to consider how the community will support a thing or another because we are conservative people and this is a tax, but nearly 50 percent of all of our sales tax is paid for by visitors of this community. That is a huge thing.”
He also said growth will be part of the county’s future.
“I think our community is going to see some interesting growth in the next 15 to 20 years,” he said. “It’s projects like (this). We’re right there at the tip of being over to cross over into that 10,000 mark (in Perryville). We’ll be 20,000 in the county (when the census is announced).
The final census count will likely be released in April or May.
District 2 Commissioner Jim Sutterer motioned for passage of the ordinance. District 1 Commissioner Jay Wengert offered a second prior to the unanimous vote.