All commissioners were present.
There was a formal Public Comment section to start off the meeting but the two of us non-county employees who were present in the audience didn’t have anything to say so that went by pretty quick.
The first agenda item was the E911 bid for signs. It was initially stated that there was no bid for the street signs but the representative from E911 said he just received one from the company that usually makes the signs: Custom Products Corp out of Mississippi. He wanted to review the bid so the item was tabled.
The second agenda item was the County Print Bid. There was one bid for Alpha Graphics. This is for a countywide printing contract for the year to print letterhead, business cards, envelopes and such as needed. The bid was tabled until it can be reviewed by the County Purchasing Agent.
The third agenda item was for tax surplus. There was a certificate of redemption for a tax surplus of $2,162. This was approved unanimously.
And that was that.
It was interesting that the Prosecuting Attorney, Caleb Cunningham, didn’t show up to talk to the Commission about his crime scene laser scanning system that he wanted to purchase. If it was such a need, I assumed we would have seen him on the agenda by now. I’ve attended 43 Commission meetings this year and I’ve never seen him at a single one despite numerous items that were brought up before the Commission from his office.
Maybe it could become a new game: “Where’s Caleb?”
Well, this was a short meeting, so it’s a good time to mention a few other interesting details that have popped up lately.
I was recently notified by WordPress that AmongtheDogwoods has received over 11,000 views since I started writing in March of 2020. In that time I’ve written a total of 49 stories and articles, including 39 articles covering Commission meetings and star chamber sessions that probably should have been meetings.
Considering we only had 2,986 votes in our last countywide election on August 3, 2021, that looks pretty good to me. It’s also encouraging since the blog has a rapidly growing number of email subscribers who automatically get the articles via email and don’t have to visit the site at all. The email subscriber data is also interesting because I can see that a large number of Camden County officials subscribe. Maybe they just want to stay in the loop! After all, the whole purpose of this endeavor is to keep Camden County residents informed.
So let’s make a deal. If you all keep reading, I’ll keep writing. My wife also probably appreciates that it keeps me out of her hair.
I also went to the Auditor’s Office and got a copy of the 2022 Camden County Preliminary Budget. It’s available to the public at the Auditor’s Office and the Commission Office. Some information will be added as time goes on, but there will be a public discussion of the proposed budget held on November 30, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. in the Commission meeting room. You might want to grab a copy before then because it is not a small book.
Finally, I received some interesting information regarding TIF projects in Camden County. The Treasurer provided the Commission with a document that summarized the amount of sales tax revenue that Camden County has had to return to TIF developers over the past 9 years. The total amount of sales tax revenue Camden County has had to return in 2021 so far is $294,464.84.
This made me start to wonder about TIF projects in Camden County. And when I start wondering, that usually means trouble.
What exactly is a TIF (Tax Increment Financing)?
A simplified description is that a government wants to encourage a developer to develop a project in its tax jurisdiction, but the developer wants to defray the cost of the development. The government agrees to return a portion of the property tax revenue and sales tax revenue to help pay for the cost of the development with the hope that the newly developed property will generate more revenue and improve the local economy.
The assessed value of the property is frozen. As the property is developed, the assessed value increases. The difference between the taxes of the frozen assessed value and the increasing value of the developed property creates what is called a tax increment.The owner of the developed property pays this tax increment, but the tax increment revenue is collected and placed in a “special allocation fund.”
The money in this special allocation fund can be used to pay project costs or retire/pay bonds or other obligations used to pay for the project. So the owner of the developed project does pay the tax increment as if they were property taxes, but the money is then placed into a fund that the developer can use to pay for the costs of developing it. So the developer is basically paying themselves.
But it doesn’t stop there. With only a few exceptions, 50% of all sales and utility taxes are also diverted and placed into the special allocation fund.
So how many TIF projects are there currently filed in Camden County? I was able to find five of them using the link below. The descriptions are taken from the documents:
https://auditor.mo.gov/TIF/Search
Here are Camden County’s TIF projects:
Arrowhead Development Group
Status: Under Construction
The Redevelopment Area, consists of approximately 226 acres of real property generally located west of U.S. Highway 54 along KK State Highway. The Plan proposes to develop eight redevelopment areas/districts. Upon full completion of all districts, it is anticipated that the Redevelopment will be a mixed-use development and will include institutional, residential, recreation, retail and office.
Total Anticipated TIF Reimbursable Project Costs: $55,835,595.00
Anticipated Total Project Costs: $385,731,340.00
https://auditor.mo.gov/TIF/ViewTif/6017
Dierbergs Osage Beach Redevelopment Project
Status: Fully Operational
The area is an approximately 15 acres located on the northeast side of Missouri Highway 54 between Links Road and Old Missouri Route 16, previously occupied by Wal-Mart and other small tenants.
The project calls for the construction of approximately 142,000 square feet of retail space. There is no residential development included in this project. Dierbergs Market will be the anchor tenant occupying approximately 76,500 square feet of space., next to Dierbergs will be approximately 8,000 of retail space. Another building occupied by Bed, Bath and Beyond and Dicks Sporting Goods.
Total Anticipated TIF Reimbursable Project Costs: $5,100,000.00
Anticipated Total Project Costs: $34,234,400.00
https://auditor.mo.gov/TIF/ViewTif/6016
Marina View Redevelopment Area
Status: Inactive
The area is approximately 28 acres located off of Passover Road and is adjacent to what is currently known as Mungenast Marina.
The Plan proposes to completely redevelop the Area by eliminating blighting conditions through the demolition of existing structures, installation of utilities, installation of access drives, and the construction of an approximately three hundred 300 room hotel with appurtenant facilities which will include, but is not limited to, an approximately one hundred thousand 100,000 square foot flexible space convention center and health spa.
Total Anticipated TIF Reimbursable Project Costs: $3,700,000.00
Anticipated Total Project Costs: $98,888,200.00
https://auditor.mo.gov/TIF/ViewTif/6015
Sunrise Beach Market Center Tax Increment
Status: Under Construction
The Redevelopment Project Area contains approximately 13 acres and is generally located at the intersection of Highway 5 and Highway F in Sunrise Beach, Missouri. See Boundary Map on Attachment 1.
A supermarket with approximately 53,540 square feet of retail space has been constructed. Future construction is expected to include a fast-food restaurant or convenience store with approximately 3,000 square feet, an approximately 13,000 square foot strip center, other commercial uses permitted by the Comprehensive Plan in the Redevelopment Project Area.
Total Anticipated TIF Reimbursable Project Costs: $7,350,000.00
Anticipated Total Project Costs: $19,184,394.00
https://auditor.mo.gov/TIF/ViewTif/6329
Oak Ridge Redevelopment Area
Status: Seeking Developer
See previously submitted map – 132 acres located directly to the South of existing Wal-Mart facility and adjacent to and bounded by E US Hwy 54 to the North and intersecting with Cecil Street, Camdenton, Missouri
Construction of approximately 764,200 sq ft of retail space -tenants yet to be determined
Total Anticipated TIF Reimbursable Project Costs: $33,847,678.00
Anticipated Total Project Costs: $119,692,880.00
https://auditor.mo.gov/TIF/ViewTif/6043I
So of the five TIF projects I was able to find,
Arrowhead Development Group is listed as Under Construction.
Dierbergs is listed as Fully Operational.
Marina View is listed as Inactive. The project was approved in 2007. Perhaps things didn’t work out for the developer: JQH-Lake of the Ozarks Development LLC.
Sunrise Beach Market Center Tax Increment is listed as Under Construction.
Oak Ridge Development is listed as Seeking Developer.
Have fun jumping down some of these rabbit holes and remember kids,
Among the Dogwoods 
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