GROUP HAD GATHERED THE REQUIRED SIGNATURES
After a judge’s ruling on Friday, Aug. 23, a quarter cent sales tax proposal that would fund services “for the well-being and safety of children and youth 19 years of age or less and strengthen families” will be on the November election ballot.
Placement of the tax question on the ballot had been up in the air until the judge’s ruling on a case involving a group known as Platte County 4 Kids vs. Platte County, Missouri Board of Election Commissioners, et al.
Platte County Circuit Court Judge Megan Benton heard arguments in the case the morning of Aug. 23 and issued her ruling later that same day. The deadline for placing a measure on the November ballot was Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 5 p.m.
“I understand I have a very brief amount of time to make a determination,” the judge said after hearing testimony.
None of the involved parties disputed that petitioners had acquired the necessary signatures to bring a vote. The question to be decided was which agency would be responsible for actual placement of the question on the ballot.
Petitioners had gathered 8,400 signatures and submitted them for verification. The board of elections says it approved 5,366 of those signatures, more than meeting the threshold for success, which was 4,571.
In order to meet the threshold, the petition required signatures from eight percent of the qualified voters of the county determined on the basis of the number of votes cast for governor in the county at the last gubernatorial election. There were 57,131 votes cast for governor in Platte County in 2020.
The Platte County Commission had passed on an opportunity to place the matter on the ballot. The position of the Platte County Board of Elections had been that it does not place matters on the ballot.
“The county commission will need to place the issue on a future ballot. Our office is unable to place issues directly on the ballot,” Wendy Flanigan, a director for the board of elections, had told The Landmark in July.
The Platte County Board of Elections was represented the Aug. 23 court hearing by attorneys Jared Welch and Scott Campbell. Welch told the court their position was that the election board doesn’t have the authority to put the matter on the ballot, that it would need to come from an “officer or agency.”
Welch pointed out that the county commission doesn’t want the issue on the ballot, and that some county commissioners have publicly said they are opposed to the tax. He said the board of elections has no position on the tax.
But the county commission’s attorney said the law indicates commissioners are not required to place the matter on the ballot. County counselor Rob Redman represented the county commission at the court hearing.
Redman said that personal opinions are “irrelevant” in the matter. Based on the number of signatures acquired by the petitioners, “this does need to be put on the ballot” and it’s clear “the board of elections should be the ones to order” the election.
The organization Platte County 4 Kids was represented in court by attorneys Chuck Hatfield and Emily Carney of Stinson LLP.
Hatfield wrote in a court filing that his clients “have no interest in the political disagreements between the respondents,” referring to the board of elections and county commissioners. Hatfield said that “election commissioners print the ballots and provide notices of elections. They should be ordered to do so and include in the November election the question mandated by section 67.1775.”
Supporters of the measure say the tax would establish a children’s services fund in Platte County that “would expand mental health and suicide prevention services for tens of thousands of children and teens in Platte County.”
If passed by voters in Platte County, it is expected the tax would generate about $5 million per year.
Mental health organizations could then apply for grants from that pool of money to be awarded by a board that would be appointed by Platte County commissioners.
Supporters point to a 2022 Missouri Student Survey that revealed nearly nine percent 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.
The effort to create the fund 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, according to Platte County 4 Kids. The organization says Platte County school districts and the Northland Regional Chamber have shown support for the idea.
Similar tax initiatives have passed in other area counties, such as Clay and Jackson.
At a meeting in April, all three Platte County commissioners—Scott Fricker, Joe Vanover and Dagmar Wood–spoke in opposition to placing the tax on the ballot.
“It is dangerous to trust a committee of unelected government officials with spending millions of tax dollars and making decisions about what our children need for their mental health,” Vanover said in April.
“Parents have the duty to care for their children. The history of trusting the government with the welfare of large parts of society is too awful. Many of our public schools currently have social workers. We have a safety net in place for the very few children that are abandoned by their parents. We cannot turn over to the government the responsibility of caring for the health of all our children,” Vanover added.
