• About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Saturday, February 27, 2021
52 °f
Platte
39 ° Mon
40 ° Tue
48 ° Wed
51 ° Thu
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward
No Result
View All Result
The Platte County Landmark Newspaper
No Result
View All Result

Platte City Chamber of Commerce has issues with state group

Mark Vasto by Mark Vasto
January 22, 2004
in Platte City
3
SHARES
85
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via Email

Citing concerns that the Missouri Chamber of Commerce doesn’t adequately support school districts, the Platte City Area Chamber of Commerce (PCACC) has issued a resolution calling upon the governor and the Missouri General Assembly to end partisan bickering as they struggle to provide school funding.

While the resolution doesn’t mention the Missouri Chamber of Commerce by name, both Platte County R-3 Superintendent Mark Harpst and PCACC director Karen Wagoner criticized the state chamber in a recent meeting of the chamber.

RelatedNews

City to hire out work for curbs, base repair

Firework sales could be booming this year

The end of an era

At the meeting, held Thursday in the Northland Career Center, Dr. Harpst called on the state chamber to open their “ears and eyes to local education.”

The controversy stems out of the state’s budget crisis and Gov. Bob Holden’s withholding of nearly $200 million from the state’s public education budget. The state chamber has come under fire from some area chambers for opposing certain corporate tax increase proposals. The state chamber believes that corporate tax hikes would hurt Missouri more than help in the long run.

“They need to get tuned in to their local chambers,” Wagoner told The Landmark. “They don’t seem to plug themselves in and find out (what’s happening in local towns). The smaller local chambers support their school districts, and we understand the importance of a strong educational system when it comes to economic issues.”

In response to a Webb City Area Chamber of Commerce letter to the state chamber — a letter referenced by both Harpst and Wagoner — state chamber president Dan Mehan outlined his group’s position on state funding for education.

“Let me assure you, the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry is in complete support of providing the funding that gives all Missouri children a quality education,” Mehan wrote.”We have never supported an agenda that would cut public education funding, nor will we in the future support an agenda that harms Missouri’s public education system.”

Mehan said any claims to the contrary were both “unfair and inaccurate.”

“There are those that have attempted to frame the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s opposition to the inequitable corporate tax increases that were proposed during the 2002 and 2003 Legislative Sessions as a position against public education funding,” Mehan said. “We objected to the corporate tax increase proposals in the last legislative session because most were unwise and would have caused far more damage to Missouri’s economy than any tax revenue that would have been generated.”

This is not the first time in recent months in which Platte City has had a disagreement over financial issues with the state chamber. The Platte City aldermen voted in September to be excluded from the state’s proposed sales tax holiday for back-to-school supplies from Aug. 13-15.

In that decision, city aldermen expressed concern over potential lost revenues. The state chamber has criticized the nearly 38 counties and 68 cities who have also chosen to opt out of the plan. In addition to Platte City, Blue Springs, Excelsior Springs, Riverside, Smithville and St. Joseph are among the cities to exclude themselves from the tax holiday.

The chamber believes that in addition to affording families a break on school supplies — many of which are now being required by certain school districts — it could actually boost sales of non-exempt items in stores.

“We think it’s a knee-jerk reaction,” Ray McCarty, director of financial affairs for the Missouri Chamber of Commerce recently told the Kansas City Star. “It’s an age-old thinking that the state shouldn’t be pushing that down to a local level.”

Wagoner said she hopes for the opposite, that the state chamber and area chambers will have a closer relationship in the future.

“The bottom line is, before they used to represent the local chambers,” Wagoner said. “Right now they don’t.”



Tags: platte cityplatte countyriversidetaxes
Mark Vasto

Mark Vasto

Related Posts

45 Years Ago–February 27, 1976

by Ivan Foley
February 26, 2021
0

Mr. and Mrs. Allen Buxton of Weston announce the birth of their daughter, Valerie Sue, on Sunday, Feb. 22, 1976 at St. John Hospital in Leavenworth. Mrs. Buxton formerly worked at Bobbi's Hair Fashions in Platte City. Doug Hunt, Platte...

30 Years Ago–March 1, 1991

by Ivan Foley
February 26, 2021
0

The Platte City Chamber of Commerce Thursday heard Mayor Steve Wegner deliver a "State of the City" address. The KCI Conference of Schools, hosted by Smithville R-2 School District and Parents as Teachers, will present "The Power of Positive Parenting"...

15 Years Ago–February 23, 2006

by Ivan Foley
February 26, 2021
0

The call to serve his country has come once again for State Rep. Jason Brown of Platte City. Brown, a member of the United States Army Reserves, told The Landmark that he has been called to fulfill a one year...

State of transportation

State of transportation

by Landmark Staff
February 26, 2021
0

EDITOR: We often take our roads and bridges for granted. We trust them to hold our cars up and to get us to work, school, or home. We're thankful for the crews that maintain them and - especially this week...

Next Post

County jobless rate best in metro

Popular News

  • Vaccine shot

    Around 1,700 shots to be offered in the next week

    15 shares
    Share 6 Tweet 4
  • City ‘finds’ 2,300 records, gives them to Jason Maki

    13 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • County health department eases restrictions

    12 shares
    Share 5 Tweet 3
  • Attorney general probing Parkville on Sunshine

    7 shares
    Share 3 Tweet 2
  • Mayor gets two years probation for DWI

    20 shares
    Share 8 Tweet 5
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
Call us at 816-858-0363

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Subscribe Online
  • Local News
  • Opinion
  • Landmark Live!
  • Looking Backward

Copyright © 2019-2020 The Platte County Landmark Newspaper - All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist