GROUP COLLECTS 8,400 SIGNATURES
The Platte County 4 Kids Coalition submitted approximately 8,400 signatures to the Platte County Clerk’s Office on Monday, June 24 to place a quarter cent sales tax initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot.
The coalition says the signature delivery was the culmination of a multi-organizational effort to create a Children’s Services Fund in Platte County.
If approved by the commissioners and placed on the ballot the measure would establish a fund for children’s services in Platte County.
As for where the process goes from here, The Landmark reached out to the Platte County Board of Elections.
“We have not received the petition pages from the county commission,” Wendy Flanigan, a director for the board of elections, told The Landmark on Thursday, June 27. “Once we receive the petition pages from the county commission, our office will begin checking signatures.”
Flanigan said a petition ballot initiative in Platte County needs signatures of at least eight percent of the qualified voters as determined by number of votes cast in the last election for governor, which in this case is 4,571 signatures.
Flanigan said a final report will be created and the petition and the report will be given to the Platte County Commission for further action.
“The county commission will need to place the issue on a future ballot. Our office is unable to place issues directly on the ballot,” Flanigan said.
At a meeting Monday morning, county commissioners tabled the matter of forwarding the signature lists to the Platte County Board of Elections.
County Clerk Jera Pruitt requested commissioners to direct her to hand over the petition pages to the board of elections for signature verification.
County commissioners instead tabled the matter, indicating they would like to discuss the matter with legal counsel.
“We don’t know what our obligations are as a commission in regard to this matter,” said Scott Fricker, presiding county commissioner.
“This effort is truly the result of concerned community members coming together to help children,” says Tom Petrizzo, CEO of Beacon Mental Health (formerly Tri-County). “We’ve seen overwhelming positivity when it comes to the community response to this initiative. Many community members feel that young people are growing up in a unique environment with its own challenges, and they need more support, education and prevention.”
Establishing a Children’s Services Fund in Platte County would expand mental health and suicide prevention services for tens of thousands of children and teens in Platte County. The 2022 Missouri Student Survey revealed that nearly 9% of participating Platte County students had seriously considered suicide, with suicide being the second leading cause of death among 10-24-year-olds in Missouri.
“This fund would help providers in the county become more proactive than reactive when it comes to supporting children,” says Petrizzo. “There would be a great benefit to students and schools themselves if the fund passed because parts of the funds collected would be used to support school-based therapy, treatment for mental health, and prevention services (suicide, smoking, vaping, etc).”
The effort has been spearheaded by area nonprofits such as Beacon Mental Health and Synergy Services, with the support of over a dozen nonprofit and for-profit businesses in the area, as well as Platte County school districts and the Northland Regional Chamber.
Along with expanding access to mental health services, the fund would create jobs, bringing talented providers to the county where the current patient-to-provider ratio is 840 to 1, making Platte County a mental health professional shortage area.
Similar tax initiatives have passed in the neighboring counties of Jackson and Clay with overwhelming success. In 2023, the Children’s Services Fund of Jackson County fund provided over $15.8 million in funding toward 10 key service areas, benefitting over 52,000 children.
“If placed on the Nov. 8 ballot, Platte County residents could join these neighboring counties in strengthening mental health service access for children and teens,” the Platte County 4 Kids Coalition said in a press release.
