SEMO village lacks officials to make decisions

DUTCHTOWN (AP) - A village in southeast Missouri has no elected officials to make town decisions after flooding in recent years prompted many residents to move because they received buyouts from the federal government.

Dutchtown currently has a population of about 50 residents, down from 94 people in 2010.

Ken Eftink, Cape Girardeau County's director of flood plain and stormwater management, said the village's board is vacant because elected members left and no one ran to fill their seats.

He said having no elected officials means no one set the property-tax rate or collected property-tax revenue in 2015 or 2016. Such revenue would fund maintenance and flood plain law enforcement.

Eftink said the village isn't in the county's jurisdiction because of its incorporated status.

State law would allow Dutchtown to end incorporation by ballot measure if a petition had signatures of more than half the 18 registered voters in the village.