I’m Not the Only One Concerned About TDD’s

Over the past few months, I’ve been voicing concern about the new TDD being considered on the west side of Neosho.  The proposed TDD would include Wal-Mart and other retails stores in that area.

Today’s Joplin Globe published an AP report finding many issues with TDD’s around the state.  These issues need to be addressed and fixed if TDD’s are to remain in Missouri.  When done correctly, a TDD can be a beneficial component of a community.  But currently, the structure needs more work.

Here’s the article (emphasis in mine):

(AP) — Every day consumers who shop at hundreds of stores across Missouri pay more on each purchase because some stores impose an extra sales tax on which voters don’t get a say.

The number of these special taxing districts in Missouri leapt from zero to over 160 in a little over a decade, which has led state auditors to question how much oversight they receive. A review by The Associated Press found that loose oversight means both consumers and the state don’t know much about the transportation development districts. These districts allow up to 1 percent in special sales taxes at retail businesses to help pay for infrastructure such as roads, bus stops, interchanges and access roads that move traffic to and from the shopping areas.

A district can be created when more than half the property owners in an area sign a petition in favor of it. Often, the districts are drawn so narrowly that one developer owns all the property. So one petition signature is all it takes. The rest of the local voters — or shoppers — don’t get a say.

The special transportation taxing districts are managed at the city or county level with little state oversight.

Stores in the special taxing districts are required to alert customers with a notice near cash registers.

Nonetheless, hardly any of the dozens of consumers contacted by The Associated Press at several Columbia transportation districts were aware of the special tax. Several stores within taxing districts showed damaged and unreadable signs, usually placed near the cash register, alerting consumers to the tax as required by law.

State audits of the taxing districts have revealed problems, including instances of construction contracts not being competitively bid. A 2007 audit questioned a taxing district in Harrisonville that had no way to ensure tax proceeds went to the transportation districts and not to other development projects.

State law was toughened in 2009 to create fines for districts that don’t submit annual fiscal reports to the state auditor’s office and to require for the first time that the tax be collected by the Missouri Department of Revenue. The money is now collected by stores, sent to the Department of Revenue and then returned to the district’s managing board.

Yet problems persist in how the state tracks transportation taxing districts. Data is kept by three agencies, all of which told the Associated Press they may not have a complete list of districts.

“Definitely there are some problems out there with oversight,” State Auditor Susan Montee said.

The auditor’s office collects annual fiscal reports and performs an audit once every three years, but is not informed when a new district is created and only recently got a way to punish districts that don’t submit a report.