Report: County road tax fund $1.8 million short
Platte County officials are worried about a spreadsheet from Gregory Bricker, a financial analyst for George K. Baum company, that shows the county road tax amassing $1.8 million less than expected.
The transportation plan approved by voters in 2003 was to use a 3/8 cents sales tax to collect $65 million in 10 years. The funds for road and bridge improvements were to be shared evenly with the 18 cities and villages within the county’s boundaries and the unincorporated area.
Bricker, who directed the bond sales affiliated with the Roads Master Plan, blew the whistle on possible tax shortcomings in February 2005, saying that believed the road tax would only amass $50 million in ten years. Now, those shortcomings seem to be coming to fruition.
Platte County Auditor Siobhann Williams told The Luminary that an audit would probably be conducted on the tax soon, adding that she believed the money was collected, but earmarked for other accounts.
Read this Friday’s Luminary for more details.