Stone County Public Safety Tax on April Ballot

Voters in Stone County will have a ballot issue that would help Law Enforcement efforts.

AJ Meakins of the Branson Tri-Lakes News has the full story below:

On April 5, Stone County residents will be asked to vote on the passing of a public safety tax initiative. 

Prop P is a ¼ of 1% general sales tax initiative to benefit the Stone County law enforcement. It is estimated to generate about $1.2 million in funding if passed, according to the Vote Yes On Proposition P website. 

“This Public Safety Initiative, a quarter cent sales tax, is very important for the future of law enforcement in Stone County,” Stone County Sheriff Doug Rader told Branson Tri-Lakes News. “It’s a penny on every $4 spent.”

According to a statement from the Stone County Citizens in Action group, as a general use sales tax, the costs would be paid for through purchases by all who shop in Stone County, including tourists, visitors, and renters, not just property tax payers. This tax will be shared by all of the people who benefit from sheriff’s services.

If passed, Prop P will provide funds for Stone County law enforcement personnel, salaries, benefits and equipment. The specific items the proposition would provide are: 

- New School Resource Officers for Galena, Hurley and Crane Schools. 

- Four new road deputies to help cover short staffed shifts to help with response times.

- A dedicated K9 deputy to assist in narcotic investigations and search and rescue efforts. 

- A new corrections/transport deputy to keep the Stone County jail fully staffed and secure.

- A 20% salary increase for all sworn deputies. 

- New patrol vehicles per year to help keep the fleet reliable.

- Modern technology and safety equipment for the department.

Rader said one of the top priorities is the new resource officers for the northern school districts.  

“One of the most important things is we currently do not have a school resource officer in our northern three schools,” Rader said. “That’ll be one of the first things we implement. We want to put one of our deputies into those school systems. It is very important that we work with our schools.”

Currently, Stone County has 19 deputies, usually 3 to4 per shift who cover the 51-square miles of the county. Adding deputies would improve response times in covering this large area, and provide better service and safety to the community. Raises are also needed to retain our current staff, especially in light of the predicted law enforcement shortage, according to the website.

Rader said right now Stone County does not have a K9 officer and relies on other agencies when a canine is needed. 

“Another thing is we do not have a dedicated canine position because of a lack of manpower,” Rader said. “This will add a dedicated canine position where we can acquire a dog and have a dedicated canine handler, so we will not have to rely on other agencies to send us a canine when we need.”

According to the website, 85% of crimes in Stone County are drug related. Adding a dedicated K9 officer will help with drug investigations, tracking offenders, searches of schools or businesses and tracking lost children. 

Prop P will allow the sheriff’s office to hire a Corrections/Transport Deputy. Most county sheriff office’s have a transport division. The Stone County Sheriff’s Office has never had a dedicated transport deputy, according to the website. Currently, corrections deputies have to be pulled away from their duties in the jail to transport prisoners on a daily basis. 

If passed the proposition will also afford the county to raise salaries on sworn-in deputies to help retain officers. 

“The big thing also is everybody’s raising their salaries in the area. For law enforcement because there’s not a lot of people who want to get into enforcement anymore,” Rader said. “Everybody is short staffed. With this tax, we can increase our deputy salary to be competitive and keep the trained knowledgeable staff we have. It’s very important to me to retain deputies and get their salaries to a good wage to serve the citizens of this county.”

“Deputies are not easy to replace,” the CIA statement said. “You can replace the body, but necessarily not someone that is trained, dedicated, dependable, hardworking and knows the people of Stone County.”

Currently the Stone County deputies’ pay is below the average of $18.25 for the area. 

- Stone County Sheriff’s Office: $17.10

- Green County: $19.25

- Taney County: $17.34

- Branson PD: $18.02

- Nixa PD: $19.07

- Ozark PD: $18.73

- Lawrence County: $17.80

- Walnut Grove: $17.50

- Springfield PD: $22.12

- Christian County: $20.87

- Silver Dollar Security: $17.00

- Branson West PD: $19.00

- Newton County: $17.90

- Barry County: $15.25

- Kimberling City: $15.80

- Republic PD: $18.85

- Willard PD: $19.37

- Ash Grove: $17.50

“Our deputies right now start less than a Wal-Mart overnight stocker makes,” Rader said.  

At a 20% raise proposed, the pay rate would start at $20.52 an hour. It would add the increase across the board for all existing sworn deputies. Law Enforcement Agencies across Missouri are raising their Law Enforcement Salaries trying to recruit qualified candidates for their Agencies, according to the website. This would put Stone County towards the top of the list for recruiting.

The reliability and safety of patrol vehicles will also be addressed with funds from Prop P. The goal would be to purchase six to eight new vehicles a year to be able to rotate vehicles out of service when they reach 100,000 miles, according to the website. The fleet would need six additional patrol cars by adding the school resource deputies, the K9 deputy and four new road deputies. 

Additional equipment would be purchased and updated to help support law enforcement with monies from Prop P funds including vests, radios, tazers, updating computer forensic lab equipment, training and more, according to the website. 

For more information visit voteyesonpropp.com.