Commissioners approve Cole County tax levy

The Cole County Commission voted to keep the tax levies at relatively the same rate and discussed expanding social media efforts.

The rolled back general revenue levy was unanimously approved at 7.6 cents per $100 assessed valuation, only slightly higher than the previous 7.5 cent rate. The public works/road and bridge levy was set at 27.1 cents per $100 assessed valuation.

This year the county saw a 2.5 percent increase in assessed valuation, which is the main reason for the marginal increase in the levies, Finance Director Debbie Malzner said.

Since 2009, commissioners have been reducing the general fund rate with a 60 percent rollback in tax collection because of the 2008 sales tax approved by voters to pay for ambulance and service operations. The general fund levy was 33 cents in 2008.

Also on Tuesday, commissioners got a look at a model of the county's app. The app interface has icons of the county's most visited web pages, including an icon for paying taxes, the courthouse and a search button to navigate through the county website. Users can also sign up for notifications for road construction, weather, public safety and health emergencies.

It's possible the county could add notifications for river levels, something the commission was interested in examining. Commissioners approved the app, knowing it can still be tweaked, and the county will push it forward to have it available in app stores.

It typically takes three weeks for apps to be approved by the Apple and Google Play Store,GIS Manager Melissa Johnson said, and will be available for free to the public after once that process is complete.

The commission also discussed the positives and negatives of creating an official Cole County Facebook page. The current Cole County, Missouri Facebook page and was created by Facebook has no affiliation with the county nor does the county regulate or post anything on the page.

Some benefits to creating a page would be another avenue for promoting open positions, county information updates and engaging the community. Most of the commissioners' concern centered around who would monitor the page. Further debate is expected on the Facebook setting allowing the administrator to approve any posts or comments before they're published.

Commissioners agreed they'd have to iron out how the page should be run before creating one. Several other county departments have Facebook pages and some offered to be part of a committee to determine a plan for an expanded social media effort.