County approves Palmyra tax collection contact

PROTECTED CONTENT

If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.

Username

Password

Login

Lost your password?

Username and Password Help

Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.

Email

Submit

← Back

by Patty Cheffey

On a 2-1 vote, the Marion County Commission approved a new contract with the city of Palmyra to have the collector’s office collect the city taxes.

Commissioners David Lomax and Larry Welch approved the contract while Commission Steve Begley voted no, stating he did not approve of the increase being requested this year.

The issue was passed during Monday’s commission meeting, at which they also approved spending $22,000 for a match for a grant to do renovation work at the Marion County Jail, approved the bridges to submit for the BRO bridge replacement program and approved participating in the County Aid Road Trust program again this year.

The new contract between the county collector’s office and Palmyra will include a 2 percent increase for the collection services, with 1.5 percent going to General Revenue and the remaining .5 percent going to Donna Goodin, collector.

The current rate is 3.2 percent, with 1.5 percent going to General Revenue and 1.7 percent going to the assessor’s fund, Goodin said.

Begley said he objected to the additional 2 percent, noting if the funds remained with the city, that would in the end, also benefit the county.

He and Welch also said county raises were given across the board at budget time, and did not believe additional funds for one office were necessary.

Goodin objected to that, noting she did not believe any other office took more “crap from the public” than her office.

“I want the extra money for the girls,” she said, noting she plans to take the additional $15,000 and share it with her office employees. 

Goodin, who noted the contract is based on the one used by both Monroe and Ralls counties, said she felt it was additional work for her office, which has to answer tax questions and fill out forms for such things as Palmyra’s quest for a CID.

While stating he could think of other offices which had to deal with an upset public more than the collector’s office, Welch also noted he did not want to lose the current income the county collects so moved to approve the contract, which Lomax seconded.

Goodin noted she knew the city of Hannibal had also approved the contract, but had not received the paperwork yet.

In other business, Sheriff Jimmy Shinn requested the county pay half of a match for a grant, $22,000, with the Sheriff’s Department also paying $22,947 to match an $89,894 jail maintenance grant.

Noting the bids for the jail roof came in under budget, Begley said those funds could be used for the county’s share of the match.

Shinn, who is wanting to convert the old visitation room into three holding cells, said he probably will not follow up with this until the fall, after the jail roof project is completed.

Three bridges were turned in for the BRO bridge replacement program for the years 2025, 2026 and 2027.

Bridges on County Road 110, County Road 262 and County Road 229 were submitted, and Mike Schaefer, county highway supervisor, noted there were other bad bridges, but thought those could be replaced with culverts.

Schafer also presented the letter to be signed and returned indicating the county plans to participate in the County Aid Road Trust (CART) pogrom, which is a cost share opportunity to help counties with maintenance rock for county-owned, public roadways serving Missouri Department of Conservation lands and facilities.

Marion County has participated in the program for several years.

The county also approved becoming a Military Order of Purple Heart county, with signs being ordered for both courthouses. There is no additional cost outside of the signs.

Begley reported the TAP money can now be used for lighting, and the commissioners discussed again lights for Veterans Road.

Welch said he is following up with sharing the project with the city of Hannibal, while Begley said he will look into the cost for having an engineer write the grant, a requirement to obtain the grant for lighting projects.

The commissioners also:

• learned the Mark Twain Regional Council of Governments will be at the Juvenile Justice Center this week to do the annual ramp inspection;

• learned the Sheriff Department’s new Tahoes have been delivered but are waiting on radios, etc.; and

• asked Shinn to follow up again with the issue on County Road 365, which is being blocked by vehicles.