Remember, your vote doesn’t matter unless the Platte County Commission says it does. So be sure to run your opinion by them first to make sure it’s ok.
Legal or not, whether it will stand up in court or not (something tells me we’ll get the chance to find out), there is no question that the county commission’s decision not to put in effect a tax that was resoundingly approved by voters (56.44% in favor) goes down as the most dictatorial, brazen thing we’ve ever seen in local politics.
Even some folks who typically are politically in tune with county commissioners Dagmar Wood, Scott Fricker and Joe Vanover are telling me they are not on board with this action to not enact the quarter cent sales tax for children’s mental health services (see front page story).
Undermining the will and clear intent of voters is a dangerous game. Some folks who are cheering the decision now might not be cheering in the future if/when the tables get turned.
When it comes to their role as commissioners, Fricker, Vanover and Wood are motivated only by grievance politics and pet projects.
If you believe there’s more to their actions than that you’re giving them too much credit.
Whether this matter eventually gets settled in a court of law or whether it provokes a recall election for a couple of commissioners or whatever lies ahead, let’s have some fun with a couple of the sillier comments that have been made by commissioners in this process.
Number 1: Scott Fricker says only around 30% of the county population voted for the children’s tax and that’s not a majority. He said his stance represents the 70% of the population who didn’t vote for it. This comment, of course, is mumbo jumbo. He says the population of the county is 112,000 and “only” 32,006 people voted yes. We have elections for a reason. According to the board of elections, there were 71,988 Platte Countians registered and eligible to vote at the Nov. 5 election. And 81.4% of registered voters turned out. Of that 81% who showed up to vote, 56.44% voted in favor of the tax.
Sorry, Scott, 81% is likely the highest percentage turnout for a local election you’re ever going to get in this day and age. All registered voters are never going to show up. And Fricker’s ‘argument’ would mean he is assuming all of the 20 percent of the voters who didn’t show on Nov. 5 would have voted no, and apparently Fricker is assuming every child under the age of 18 would also be opposed to the tax. This is a desperately insane angle to take in a debate. The people who decide not to show up for elections are forfeiting their voice to those who do vote. That’s the way our system works.
A heavy November turnout is why the county never puts their jail tax question on a November ballot. The jail tax got crushed with 62% opposed in an August election. Five years ago it got crushed with 62% opposed in an April election. Put another over-the-top jail tax on a high turnout November ballot and watch the opposition percentage soar to new heights.
The children’s tax was on the ballot during one of the highest voter turnouts in recent memory and it won handily. Like it or not, whether you support the tax or not, the people have spoken. As Marcia Hankins of Platte County pointed out at the commission meeting on Monday, some people may think the children’s tax setup is “faulty legislation” but the people of Platte County didn’t think so and an overwhelming number of voters supported it. (Yes, a nearly 13% margin of victory is an overwhelming result in today’s political world).
Here’s the kicker: The 32,000 votes the children’s tax received easily outnumbers the 22,300 votes that Fricker received in his election in 2022, and that’s only about 20% of the population. Using his own logic, I guess that means only 20% of the population support Fricker and 80% do not.
Number 2: This has to win for most disingenuous quote by any elected official in the year 2024. I read this one in a story posted by KMBC-TV Channel 9 on its website. It’s from county commissioner Joe Vanover, who proposed and helped lead the very unsuccessful campaign for a $410 million tax increase for an expanded Platte County Jail back in the summer. He was talking about the children’s mental health services tax approved by voters when he said this to Channel 9:
“We said no, we’re not going to do that. We’re against raising taxes.”
Lol. What? Earth to Joe: three months ago you were proposing and campaigning for the largest tax increase in Platte County’s history. And now you say you’re against raising taxes? Joe must think voters have extremely short memories. And maybe some do, but I think you’ll have to wait longer than three months for them to forget that $410 million tax increase boondoggle you were trying to force upon us.
Vanover isn’t against raising taxes. He has proven he’ll gladly raise your taxes for an overbuilt new prison palace. But he is against raising taxes for anything that isn’t his pet project. Like children’s mental health services.
Never forget that these three commissioners are infatuated with getting a new overbuilt jail and the possibility of running an incarceration empire in Platte County.
They’ll never say this out loud, but I believe most of the thought process behind the county commissioners’ adamant opposition to the children’s mental health services tax is that it adds another quarter cent to the overall sales tax rate in Platte County, a rate that a lot of folks think is already too high. In commissioners’ minds, adding a quarter cent for children’s mental health serves will further jeopardize their next jail sales tax campaign.
When the county commissioners come back with their next sales tax proposal for a 500-bed jail, they fear with a recently passed new children’s mental health sales tax already on the books more and more Platte Countians would say no to adding another new tax for a jail because “the sales tax rate in the county is already too high.”
I would guess most of the 32,000 who voted in favor of the children’s tax only to see it overturned by the commission are now never going to vote for any jail tax Fricker and Vanover may propose in the future. That’s going to be a tough 32,000 vote head start for the commissioners to overcome the next time they put their pet project on the ballot.
I’m not sure Fricker and Vanover realize they just created a whole lot of new and enthusiastic anti-jail tax voters.
(Let’s get a hotline set up so we can call commissioners to see in which elections votes will actually count. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
