EDITOR:
The voters have spoken but nobody is listening. I watched the three Platte County commissioners vote yes to stop the children’s fund from moving forward. The issues they bring up could be said of other county boards, so that leaves me confused.
Here are some of their talking points –
1) It’s a permanent tax.
Yes, it is just like the library, senior fund, and many other taxes.
2) Children are a special interest group – just a small segment of our population.
Not everyone uses the library or parks etc. but we still fund them.
3) Worried who is going to oversee their budget.
Duh! The commission appoints the board to oversee it.
4) Today it was mentioned that funds cannot be used for audits to verify the funding is going where it’s supposed to.
State Rep. Ashley Aune addressed this beautifully- if the commissioners knew issues weren’t written specific enough, why did they not call her or others at the state to address the issues to be a part of the solution.
5) Mentioned Lafayette County had issues with board members who benefited from the fund.
See No. 3 – appoint board members who don’t have conflicts of interest.
6) Even though 56% voted yes for the children’s fund with the largest voter turnout in recent history, 32,000 votes isn’t a majority of the 80,000 registered voters. It only represents 30% of our county population.
All registered voters are not gonna show up. And since when do we include people under 18 to get the numbers you want to match your narrative of 30%?
7) They can’t know what voters will want in 10 or 50 years so they can’t commit this tax to them.
Every day we all make decisions that affects the future of government, our businesses and families. This is nothing new.
8) Sales tax hurts the poor the most.
Genius to have a sales tax instead of on our real estate. There are one million visitors at the baseball fields in Parkville each year that will help pay this tax, not to mention the number of folks who stop at QT on their way north.
9) The church needs to be more involved like the old days
Pastor Matt from Platte Woods clarified that they are not equipped or trained to handle the counseling needed or how to prevent suicide. They need our help.
10) A healthy city has one mental health professional for every 250 citizens
The state of Missouri has one in 460
Platte County has one in 840
Single moms cannot take off work each week to drive their child to Johnson County for help. If her child sees a counselor at school – no transportation needed and can bill the children’s fund for the one hour.
I’m a Republican who dislikes adding taxes but I’m also a proactive person who wants to be a part of the solution, not just say no. My company takes care of seniors and the disabled. I hire a lot of people that happen to have mental health issues. If we would have had this tax years ago like Clay County, our workforce would be better equipped. Fifty percent of kids who get assistance before 18 do not have these issues as adults. This is an economic issue that is critical for our continued success.
It was embarrassing to be from Platte County today.
--Melissa Moran
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