2nd Class is OK with Me

From today’s Joplin Globe:

NEOSHO, Mo. — A bill approved this week by the Missouri House of Representatives would allow Newton County to avoid the added costs that come with designation as a first-class county.

The measure, which has the support of House Speaker Ron Richard, R-Joplin, passed the House 147-7 and now moves to the Senate.

The bill is a result of a request by Newton County officials, said Jerry Carter, presiding commissioner.

House Bill 1806 increases the minimum assessed valuation to move counties to first-class status from $600 million to $900 million. Currently, counties that reach and maintain a $600 million assessed valuation for five years advance to first-class status. Newton County’s valuation is more than $686 million.

Carter said the classification “has nothing to do with the quality of the county, but is an arbitrary measure based on the county’s assessed valuation that in turn might indicate their ability to pay for additional services, such as a juvenile detention center or a coroner who has a medical degree.

“So really, what that can mean is more unfunded mandates from the state,” Carter said.

Carter also said officials are especially concerned the state may pass on more costs to counties because state revenues are down and lawmakers are working to cut spending.

“It’s our feeling now would not be a good time to become a first-class county, and we’ve raised that issue with our legislators,” he said.

Besides increasing the threshold for first-class counties to $900 million, the threshold for counties to reach second-class status would raise from $450 million to $600 million. All counties with an assessed valuation of less than $600 million would be third-class counties.

“We’re dealing with one of the toughest economies on record and our counties simply cannot afford to take on an additional economic burden at this time,” Richard said. “Moving to a higher classification would bring additional costs, with it and we want to spare counties from that change if possible.”

“Bigger is not better when you go to first class,” said Richard Burke, executive director of the Missouri Association of Counties. “I’ve talked to officials from a lot of counties who said they wished they could go back.”

Additional requirements for first-class counties are scattered throughout the statutes, Burke said, and entail more work and expense.

“And there’s potential for a loss of revenue because of the way tax laws are structured,” he said.

Requirements most concerning to Newton County, Carter said, include mandates that the county coroner be replaced with a medical examiner who must be a physician, and that the county provide a juvenile detention center.

Newton County is one of several counties in the region now served by the Jasper County Juvenile Detention Center.

Jasper County, which currently has an assessed value of more than $1.5 billion, reached first-class status about 10 years ago. But a change in state law at the time made the medical examiner requirement optional for the county.

Burke said there are other bills proposed this session designed to address concerns by counties that still want to move to the first-class designation.

“Most feel like Newton County, but there are still some that want it, and the legislature is trying to help,” he said.

“If there was the slightest value for Newton County, we’d seize the opportunity,” said Carter, “but at the present time, with the economy the way it is, it’s not reasonable for us to consider changing classifications.”