LETTER: Amendment 4 improves storm water fund management

There is always confusion over the amendments every election year. This year is no exception: Amendment 4 will help Boone County in our storm water management efforts.

• Each year, since 1988, the state legislature has authorized $20 million a year for state storm water bonds for first class counties in Missouri.
• To date, only $45 million of the $200 million in authorized bonds have been sold.
• The main reason the last bond sale was in 2002 is because the Internal Revenue Service enacted restrictions on tax-exempt bond sales if they were not spent within three years of a sale.

Amendment 4 would change the Department of Natural Resources distribution process by:

• Allowing grants or loans (instead of the current cap of 50 percent grants and 50 percent loans), thus allowing the money to be spent in a timely manner.
• Allowing the state to reallocate unused funds to areas that can use them.

The initial distribution will continue to be made on a per-capita basis to all 17 first-class counties in the state.  However, unlike now, if a county cannot utilize its share of the funds, that money would not just sit in the state treasury and be taxed, it could be spent in another county that needed it.  The amendment also creates a revolving fund so the repayment of the loan portion stays in storm water projects.

Please consider voting yes on Amendment 4.