Tuesday is an election day in Ozark County with registered voters headed to the polls to decide tax levy requests by the Ozark County Ambulance District and the Dora R-III School District. In addition, members for village boards in Bakersfield and Theodosia, school boards in Bakersfield and Gainesville, and the Gainesville mayor will be elected.
The Ozark County Times reports seats are opening on the Public Water Supply District No. 1 board in Theodosia, the Ozark County Ambulance Board and the school boards in Dora, Lutie and Thornfield. However, state law allows government entities bypass elections when the number of candidates equals the number of openings, which is the case with these boards.
Voters are reminded a photo ID will be required to vote. The requirement follows the passage of a law in 2016 enacted in June 2017. Those who dont have a state-issued drivers or non-drivers license, passport or military ID may provide a paycheck or bank statement and sign a statement confirming their identity. For more information, call the Ozark County Clerks Office at 417-679-3516.
Tax levies on the ballot include Dora R-III School District where voters will decide whether to renew the current tax levy with a .10 increase.
Dora superintendent Steve Richards told the Times approving the levy increase carries extra importance because it brings the districts levy back to the 3.43 level, qualifying it for the states Small Schools Grant providing an additional $120,000 to the schools budget each year.
Richards said for all but one of the years since Dora voters passed a school operating levy ceiling of 3.43 in 2006, the schools levy has continued at or near that level, qualifying it for the $120,000 Small Schools Grant each year.
However, the countys total assessed valuation increased from about $109 million in 2016 to about $115 million in 2017 due to requirements from the state applied to the assessors office. As a result of that increase in the countys total assessed valuation, Doras share of the total valuation also increased meaning the schools tax rate decreased to 3.329. At that rate, the district will no longer qualify for the Small Schools Grant unless voters approve the increase on Tuesday.
Richards said if the previous levy had sunsetted at a time when the schools operating levy had been 3.43, which it has averaged all the years since 2006, the ballot request would simply be to continue the current levy. But because it went down last year due to the districts increase in valuation, the request must, instead, be for an increase to the $3.43 per $100 assessed valuation level.
The second tax levy increase on Tuesday’s ballot is for the Ozark County Ambulance District. The ambulance district is asking voters to authorize the district board to reset the districts current levy rate of .1242 cents per $100 of assessed valuation up to a maximum of 28 cents per $100 assessed valuation starting in the current tax year.
Ambulance district administrator Eddie Delp reminds voters if the request is approved, the actual property tax collected will be reduced proportionately depending on the amount of sales tax collected. Delp says an existing half-cent sales tax helps fund the ambulance district, and the county takes the total dollars of sales tax collected and deducts that amount from the property tax to be collected.
The rate increase would be subject to a corresponding rollback in the current half-cent sales tax supporting the ambulance district, as required by Missouri law.
Delp has said the complicated funding system including the sales-tax rollback makes it hard to get a levy increase passed because the required language makes it seem like the total levy is more than doubling, when in fact its not.
The ambulance district operates 24/7 with two professional personnel and one vehicle available at all times. The ambulance is required to respond to all calls, but many of the calls dont result in transport, meaning the district earns no income for the call. However, the biggest factor putting financial stress on the district is bills going unpaid. Delp said the district is owed nearly $500,000 in unpaid bills accumulating over the last eight years. Another challenge will be replacing the current ambulance in the next few years.
The district has estimated approving the proposed levy would increase the net tax bill by $20 per year for the owner of a $70,000 home, $5 for the owner of a $10,000 car, and $1 for the owner of 80 acres of unimproved woodland.
Two three-year positions are also on the ballot for the Ozark County Ambulance District Board and the Theodosia Public Water Supply District No. 1.
At Bakersfield, three two-year terms are coming open on the village board. At Gainesville, the two-year terms of mayor, east ward alderman, west ward alderman and center ward alderman are on the ballot. At Theodosia Village, three two-year terms are coming open.
Also on Tuesday’s ballot are a number of school board positions.
Those races include two three-year positions on all five Ozark County School districts. However, school board elections will be held only in Bakersfield and Gainesville, where the number of candidates exceeds the number of terms expiring.
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