County accepts SB190 resolution

The Ozark County commissioners adopted a resolution concerning Senate Bill 190 during the regular Monday morning commissioners meeting.

“Senate Bill 190 is a really popular thing around the state right now,” said Presiding Commissioner Terry Newton. “We have been going back and forth trying to figure out the best way to go with this and we’ve come up with a resolution.

“Basically there’s so many things that are gray and wrong with it right now, and the legislators will tell you that they are trying to fix it, trying to straighten it out, trying to make it where it’s doable because the way they’ve got it written now - it’s not...legally we can’t do certain things. There’s certain things they say in that that we can do that we can’t do. They’re trying to fix a lot of that and get it all straightened out but until then we thought we would go ahead and adopt a resolution.

“They keep telling us that it will be fixed in 2024. We needed to put something in place because we needed to do something,” said Newton.

The resolution states, in part, that the commission expresses support for SB190 and they will consider enactment of the bill “after the many unintended consequences of this legislation have been vetted and resolved by the Missouri State Legislature in the 2024 legislative session or sooner.”

SB190 is a recently instituted Missouri law that authorizes a county to grant a property tax credit to senior citizens who are eligible for Social Security benefits. The tax credit would be for the person’s primary residence. The law can only be enforced if authorized by each county and would not affect 2023 property taxes.

In early September, the commissioners issued a printed statement saying “unfortunately the amendment to the existing statute is so vaguely written as passed as to be essentially unworkable at this time.” 

“There’s just so many questions...there’s just so much wrong with it,” said Newton. “It says we can take money from schools. Well, legally we can’t take money from schools.”

“Where are they going to make up that revenue?” added Western Commissioner Layne Nance.

“Exactly,” said Newton. “It’s such a convoluted mess. There’s only been a handfull of counties that have passed it.”

“There are five counties that have passed it,” said Wise. “Three of those counties passed it so they would be sued.”

“They’re wanting lawsuits so they can have someone else can decide what they do for it. It’s a mess,” said Newton. “We can’t enact more than half of it.”

Bids for painting and graders

Randy Conrad’s bid of $18,300 was accepted for painting the exterior and roof. He was also awarded the contract for painting the first and second floor of the courthouse for $8,850 and the basement for $2,950, for a total of $11,800. All contracts include material, labor and two coats of paint. Conrad’s was the only submitted bid.

Four bids were opened for financing for four new county road graders – two graders for the eastern district of the county and two for the west.

One company submitted a bid for financing two John Deere graders to service the eastern district and three banks submitted bids for financing for all four graders.

• Murphy, eastside John Deere graders only, 5.9 percent with the option of financing for five years or six years;

• Simmons Bank, six year option at 6.1 percent, seven year option at 6.25 percent, plus fees not to exceed $1,500;

• FNBC, six years at 5.843 percent with processing fee of $250; and

• Southern Bank, five or six year fixed option at 5.25 percent with no fees.

The commissioners unanimously approved accepting the bid from Southern Bank for all four graders.

Bids will be accepted for a fire suppression system for the Ozark County Sheriff’s Office. The bids will be accepted until Nov. 13.

As typical each year, the county budget was amended by around $600. County Clerk Brian Wise told the commissioners the reasons for the amendment were the post commission circuit clerk time payment and garnishment were turned over to the county because they are budgeted county funds and the LEPC fund was closed and the fund had to be “zeroed out.”

Request for insurance agents

The commissioners recently advertised asking for bids for property and casualty insurance. However, Newton said that according to several agents a lot of property and casualty carriers are pulling out of the state. The commissioners voted to suspend the request for bids.

Instead, the commissioners set a date to advertise for a request for qualifications from insurance agents. Interviews will be accepted until Nov. 13.

“What that’s going to do is let them come in and talk to us,” said Newton. “We choose an agent we like and want to do business with and then they take care of that for us.”

Newton also added that some agents may work on a fee basis instead of a commission basis, possibly saving the county money.

“We’re going to travel down that path and see if that works out better for us.”

Editor’s note: The Ozark County Commissioners meet at 9 a.m. every Monday in the meeting room on the second floor of the Ozark County Courthouse on the Gainesville square. Commissioners are Presiding Commissioner Terry Newton, Eastern Commissioner Gary Collins and Western Commissioner Layne Nance. The meetings are open to the public.