Candidates respond at courthouse Q&A

TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
The four candidates for two open seats on the Maryville City Council participated Tuesday in a public question-and-answer session at the Nodaway County Courthouse. Pictured from left are Jerry Riggs, Beth Hawkins, Jason McDowell and Michael Baumli.

Fewer than 20 people turned out for a question-and-answer session Tuesday night featuring the four candidates seeking two open seats on the Maryville City Council in Tuesday’s municipal election.

Hosted by Maryville Citizens for Community Action and the Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce, the candidates forum at the Nodaway County Courthouse elicited questions from the small gallery on a wide range of issues including street overlays, better communications between City Hall and local residents, economic growth and incentives for residential development.

Retired Northwest Missouri State University Professor Dave McLaughlin served as moderator during the evening, which also included presentations on a couple of tax measures on the ballot next week.

One of those proposals will ask voters outside Maryville to approve a 15-cent per $100 of assessed valuation property tax to fund a countywide library system. Voters inside the city limits will decide the fate of a proposed 10-cent property tax increase to the current 30-cent levy that provides revenue for Maryville Parks & Recreation.

Maryville Public Library Director Stephanie Patterson spoke on the library issue, saying that approval of the tax, which is already paid by Maryville property owners, would produce an estimated additional $250,000 annually for library operations — mostly for new books and programming — nearly doubling the institution’s budget.

Patterson said the tax increase, which, among other things, would fund literacy outreach programs in the county’s six rural school districts, would cost the owner of a home valued at $100,000 around $28.50 a year. That compares to the $25 annual cost of a non-Maryville-resident library card.

In addition, Patterson cited figures from the collector-treasurer’s office stating that the average property tax levy countywide is $6.67 per $100 of assessed valuation. Adding the library tax, she said, would boost that levy, which varies from township to township, by approximately 2.2 percent.

“This is never going to be a major part of your taxes,” she said.

Maryville Parks & Recreation Director Rod Auxier characterized his agency’s proposal as a response to Senate Bill 711, which forced the parks department to roll back its levy from 40 cents to 30 cents beginning in 2009.

The legislation requires all taxing jurisdictions, regardless of whether they are operating at or below their voter-approved tax rate ceilings, to roll back tax rates to offset reassessment increases.

Over the past seven years, Auxier said, the restriction has cost local parks and the Maryville Community Center about $45,000 annually in lost revenue and prevented the funding of capital improvements except for those paid for through private donations, grants and reserve funds.

Fiscal pressures have resulted in the elimination of a full-time maintenance position, significant reductions in the number of part-time staff hours and curtailed service hours at the community center.

Auxier said the last voter-approved Parks & Rec levy increase came in 1987, and that additional revenue is needed cover increases in fixed costs, including utilities, health and liability insurance and minimum wage.

Cost to taxpayers, he said, would be about $19 a year on a $100,000 home and $2.85 a year in increased personal property taxes for vehicles.

Should the measure pass, Auxier said, a number of improvements would likely take place, including street and tennis court resurfacing at Beal Park, playground and shelter house upgrades at Sisson-Eek Park, and the installation of outdoor exercise equipment at Judah Park.

Candidates seeking three-year terms on the City Council include Michael Baumli, a network and security administrator at Kawasaki Motors; Beth Hawkins, a financial services professional and former Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce board president; Maryville Middle School science teacher Jason McDowell; and incumbent Jerry Riggs, a CPA and partner in the local accounting firm of Marsh, Espey, & Riggs.

Prior to his appointment last year to fill the unexpired term of Glenn Jonagan, Riggs served two terms on the council in the 1990s, which included two one-year stints as mayor.

In a wide-ranging discussion on various municipal issues McDowell cited his experience on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, and said he would work to bring more retail businesses and visitors to downtown while expanding the ongoing asphalt overlay program for city streets.

Hawkins said her tenure with the Chamber of Commerce and work with Nodaway County Economic Development had prepared her for council service and called for an occupancy tax, sometimes called a “bed tax,” that would be paid by guests staying at local motels.

She said such a tax is collected by most Missouri cities of any size and would provide revenue that could be used to further develop Maryville and Mozingo Lake as tourist destinations.

Riggs said voters should choose him because of his business background and previous council experience and described oversight of the city’s budget process as one of the council’s most important functions.

If elected, Riggs said he would work to continue a major initiative to reduce infiltration of storm water into the city’s sanitary sewer system and promote infrastructure improvements and other actions aimed at improving traffic flow along the South Main retail corridor.

Baumli called for improved communication between the council and constituents, saying that, if elected, he would urge wider use of social media and other Internet-based technologies. He also said there was a need for better intergovernmental cooperation between City Hall and Nodaway County and voiced support for continued development of city parks and walking trails.

In addition, Baumli sounded a new note in this spring’s council campaign, saying that the city should monitor recruiting trends at Northwest Missouri State University, which he believes would enable the local business community to better respond to the needs of student customers and recent graduates seeking jobs.

Speaking from the gallery, outgoing Councilman Jeff Funston asked the candidates if they would pledge support for committing at least $500,000 a year in municipal funds to asphalt overlays for city streets. Three said yes with only Hawkins demurring, explaining that she didn’t want to “make promises I can’t keep.”

On other fronts, all four candidates expressed support for the Campus Town Redevelopment Incentive Program, which waives construction and disposal fees for landowners and developers who replace blighted structures with new residential development — usually apartments and duplexes — in the aging neighborhoods east of the Northwest campus.

Riggs, Hawkins and McDowell all said the program had proven its worth and should be expanded to other parts of the city. McDowell suggested that a commercial version of the initiative could be used to help redevelop downtown.

Baumli said be thought CTRIP had “done wonderful things,” but that control over such redevelopment was needed to ensure that traditional single-family neighborhoods remained intact.