TAX FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT WILL BE PROPOSED AGAIN

County Growth Plus Sheriff's Budget Pinch Promote Issue

Law Enforcement Bill Will Be Proposed Again

Rep. Rick Johnson, D-High Ridge, says he is eager to file a bill that in
recent years has become a legislative tradition for Jefferson County lawmakers.

Johnson sponsored a bill that would allow Jefferson County voters to
increase the county sales tax dedicated to law enforcement to as much as 1
percent from the current one-half of 1 percent. Last year, the extra amount
would have meant about $9 million in additional revenue.

Under the bill, the county prosecuting attorney's office would get at least
12 1/2 percent of a new tax. The office currently receives no sales-tax
revenue. The rest of the money would benefit the Jefferson County Sheriff's
Department.

Similar legislation has been introduced several times before but never has
been approved. Sometimes the bill is attached to doomed legislation; other
times it never gets out of committee hearings.

Johnson said that Jefferson County's rapid growth combined with budget
shortfalls in the sheriff's department made the bill a top priority this year.

"We've got to give the people of Jefferson County the opportunity to do
something about law enforcement," Johnson said.

The county's population growth has mirrored a staggering increase in
drug-related crime. State crime data lists Jefferson County as Missouri's
No. 2 county in methamphetamine raids and seizures.

Johnson said that the vast majority of new county residents were
law-abiding but he said there were "undesirable elements that need to be
kept in check."

Jefferson County Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer said that if the Legislature
allowed the tax drive to move forward and county voters approved it, he
would use the money to hire and equip between 50 and 70 additional
deputies. He said that none of the money would be used for what he called
bricks-and-mortar expenses, such as new construction or paying for other
capital improvements.

"What we need more than anything else is more manpower," Boyer said. "We
can't afford to replace officers that leave and we just can't keep up with
the calls we get."

Boyer compared his department to the police force in St. Louis. The city's
population is about twice that of Jefferson County, but the city's force of
1,400 officers dwarfs the 168 deputies Boyer is supposed to have at his
command. In reality, there rarely are that many deputies, he says, and they
must provide security in the county's jail and courtrooms in addition to
policing the streets.

Boyer says the short staffing already has led to problems.

In the recent snowstorm, the department at one point had a backlog of 61
automobile accidents that deputies had not yet investigated. Boyer says any
officer sometimes is likely to respond to more than 25 calls in a work shift.

"If we continue without (new) funding, we will not have the manpower to
protect the citizens of Jefferson County," he said. "It is a very simple
and very scary proposition."

Johnson said the legislation had a good chance to be approved this year.
The second-term legislator will become minority whip this month and said he
would use the power of that post to push the bill.

Johnson said his only worry was that Republican lawmakers, who dominate
both the state House and Senate, might try to deny him a legislative
victory that he could use in later campaigns.

"There is a lot of politics in Jefferson City, and things sometimes move
slower than we'd like to see, but I am hopeful," he said.