Commissioners hear feedback on safety tax

With the April 4 consolidated election approaching, the Randolph County commissioners hosted two separate meetings last week on the public safety tax referendum as a means to answer questions and receive feedback on the proposed measure.

The commissioners met with municipal fire and police officials last Thursday, followed by a meeting with union representatives and county officeholders on Friday.

If approved, the public safety tax would increase local sales taxes by 1 percent, meaning consumers would pay an additional $1 in sales tax for every $100 of tangible personal property bought at retail.

Not subject to the tax would be personal property that is titled or registered with an agency of state government, food for human consumption that is to be consumed off the premises where it is sold (other than alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and food that has been prepared for immediate consumption) and non-prescription medicines, drugs, medical appliances and insulin, urine testing materials, syringes and needles used by diabetics.

"If this has a chance of passing, this has to be a coordinated effort," said Board Chairman Ronnie White on Friday.

This will be the second time the safety tax - which was created by the commissioners not as a "bailout" for the Randolph County Sheriff's Office, but intended for county-wide benefit - will be on the ballot after being overwhelmingly rejected in the November general election by 67 percent of the vote.

On Friday, County Treasurer Justin Jeffers asked the commissioners why the referendum failed as bad as it did.

"I feel a lot of people who knew about it, voted for it," White said.

Sheriff Shannon Wolff, whose agency is severely shorthanded with eight deputies to cover 635 square miles, stated he wasn't sure the public was completely informed about the referendum the first time.

"The public needs to know exactly where this money is going to go," he said. "When everything is out on the table and they know, I think they are more likely to get behind it."

The commissioners stated part of the intent for the funds generated by the tax is to "better staff the sheriff's office." Wolff told media that it costs $62,329 per year for a full-time deputy, including benefits.

"We simply can't cut anymore," Wolff said.

Jeffers also warned the commissioners about what could happen if the referendum passes, but no visible improvement is seen at the sheriff's office.

"If they don't see a change in the number of deputies out on the roads, everybody will get hung with this and there will be some very upset citizens," he said.

Wolff added that his office also served 2,000 papers last year - including summons, subpoenas and evictions. Deputies also had to serve papers on their off time.

"We're doing what we have to do to get it done, but it's costing a little bit of overtime to do so," Wolff said.

Under the current proposal, 75 cents of every $1 generated by the sales tax would go toward the operations of the sheriff's office, with the funds generated by the remaining 25 cents distributed to the municipal police and fire departments based upon each city or village's population.

And the commissioners received a generally less-than-warm reaction by the municipal departments during their time in front of the board, with Commissioner Marc Kiehna calling it a "contentious" meeting a day later.

"They were wanting us to give them a little bit more of the pie," he said during Friday's meeting.

The tax distribution is being based off of the 2010 census, which would mean Chester - with its population adjusted to 4,786 to account for the 3,800 persons in Menard Correctional Center and Chester Mental Health Center - would conceivably receive the highest distribution of the nearly $720,000 generated at $171,610.38.

Sparta ($154,255.71), Red Bud ($132,598.24), Steeleville ($74,689.60) and Percy ($34,781.04) rounded out the top five communities on the list.

Steeleville Assistant Fire Chief Mike Armstrong said the quarter percent for the municipal departments was added onto the referendum without their knowledge.

"You're using our name to pass a tax for everybody," he said.

Steeleville Mayor Bob Sutton also gave his opinion.

"It upsets me as a mayor when I didn't hear about it and then I read about it in the newspaper," he said.

Armstrong asked the commissioners to consider the number of calls for service that are handled each year by the respective agencies. In addition to fire calls, the Steeleville Fire Department receives around 300 medical calls per year.

"That's why we're here," White said. "To consider what the other ways are to distribute this."

Sparta Mayor Jason Schlimme stated his city should be given additional consideration as Sparta is a 24-hour backup dispatch point for the county. He also noted that his city's sales tax rate is already tied for fourth highest in the state and by adding the additional 1 percent, it would bring it to 9.25 percent.

"That would make it the highest in Southern Illinois south of Springfield," he said.

Floyd Fessler Jr., business representative for International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399, stated at Friday's meeting that union personnel at the Randolph County Courthouse has dropped from 31 people to 21 in the past 10 years.

Local 399 also represents most of the officeholders at the courthouse.

"It's not a question of mismanagement," he said. "It's a question of a loss of revenue in Randolph County."

Fessler said the union was at the position where he wasn't sure if the county would function if the headcount gets any lower.

"Either something has to give, or put up the 'For Sale' sign for the county," he said.

Fessler also floated the possibility of the county not being able to pay for ambulance service.

"People want the services and they require the services, but the money has to come from somewhere," he said.

The commissioners said they legally can't come out for or against the measure since it was their referendum, but all said they would be willing to attend local meetings to "speak the facts" about it.

"Everyone, not just the unions, needs to get behind this," Fessler said.