Joplin City Council puts Justice Center proposal on hold

Apr. 16—An Aug. 6 property tax proposal to fund renovation and expansion of the Donald E. Clark Justice Center has been put on hold indefinitely by the Joplin City Council at the suggestion of City Manager Nick Edwards.

The action came during talks at a Monday night meeting in which the city manager asked council members about the timing of the proposal for voters.

The city manager reviewed the proposal for the council, which has three new members since the April 2 election.

The cost of the construction was originally estimated at $65 million to $67.3 million when the existing building at 303 E. Third St. was to be remodeled for police, fire, the jail and municipal court.

After the construction plans were revised to buy property and construct a new fire station across the street on Langston Hughes-Broadway to provide more space for that department, the cost was bumped up by $900,000, making the project an estimated $68.8 million.

Police, the jail and court would remain in the existing building. The city manager said the two buildings would push available space for the public safety functions from more than 55,000 square feet now to about 95,000 square feet.

He said the plan would be financed with general obligation bonds like those used by the Joplin School District to fund construction projects.

The city would borrow $70 million and with the cost of financing the bonds added, the city would incur $71.3 million in debt. That would be paid over 20 years. It is estimated that the property tax on a house with an appraised value, rather than an assessed value, of $150,000 would cost 58 cents per $100, amounting to an annual cost for a homeowner of $165, Edwards said. However, the exact cost would not be known until the bonds were incurred, he added.

There would be no personal property tax involved on vehicles, the city manager said.

To proceed, an ordinance would have to be drawn up and presented to the council by May 6 and the ballot prepared for the Aug. 6 election.

'Economic conditions'

"Before going forward, I hoped the council would look at whether or not to proceed," Edwards said. "We know that economic conditions are challenging right now. A tax at this point may be a big burden for our residents. Also, we know the August time frame won't be the presidential election, but there will be other local, state, national elections and (we) don't know what the mood of the voters will be at that time."

He added that the focus right now of the police and fire departments is on continuing with work to attract and retain staffing.

Mayor Keenan Cortez asked council members for their thoughts.

Newly elected member Joshua Bard said, "It is as he said. The economic conditions are just not right now. We would need 57% of the votes 'yes' for this, and I just don't think it's right now."

Another new council member, Ryan Jackson, said, "I don't really feel like we have done much in public input to see what level the community would be willing to support and what financial need would they identify as the right amount. It's not that I don't want our public safety employees to have something on the high end. I don't want them to take a loss on this. I want to have a winning proposition go forward that will get them an upgrade and better facilities."

He said the city manager and Bard are right in their assessments that the economy could jeopardize the proposal.

Charles "Chuck" Copple, a retired firefighter, said that in looking at the conceptual drawings and information, that proposed replacement building for Joplin's main fire station is not even double the size of the existing station, which does not have enough room for today's needs. Plus, the price tag of more than $19 million for the new building seems high compared with the $4.7 million the city just spent to build fire station No. 7.

"So I'm a little fuzzy on where their math is coming from," unless it is the added cost of land preparation, he said.

He likes the idea of a bond issue and suggested the project could be built in phases to make the cost more palatable to voters.

Doris Carlin, another new council member, said, "If we are feeling rushed and thinking of postponing it, one thing I would not like to postpone is the citizens committee. I would like to see that going now, formed now, supported by the Chamber of Commerce, supported by volunteers in the community, so we can get the input that we need to have a successful proposition for our entire community."

Josh DeTar said he liked Copple's proposal to take the project in phases and get input from fire and police about their needs for the buildings. He also would like to have the finance committee study it and get its input and help in looking for funding options.

Council member Mark Farnham said he agreed with the other council members. He asked if the city administration had looked into revenue sharing from the state of Missouri for the project. Edwards said he has not seen that done but that he could get the city's legislative committee to look into that question.

Cortez said it appeared there is a consensus this may not be the right time to ask for a vote on the project in light of a national election coming up and economic concerns.

"I think that's the direction given to the city manager at this time," the mayor said.