A Missouri Court of Appeals issued a victory for the Platte County Commission last week, finding the county was not obligated to implement the voter-approved children’s services sales tax.
In November 2024, Platte County voters approved a quarter-cent sales tax to support expanded mental health services for residents under 19 years of age. In December, Platte County Commissioners refused to authorize the tax, stating that voter approval simply gave them the option to authorize the tax, not the order to do so. Supporters of the tax responded, and a petition for a writ of mandamus was filed in February 2025, in reaction to what Parkville residents and petitioners Greg Plumb and Tara Bennett called “an obstinate county government,” seeking implementation of the tax. That petition was denied in April 2025 and an appeal was filed to the Missouri Western District Court of Appeals.
On Tuesday, April 14, the Court of Appeals issued its finding.
“We recognize that the statutes involved in this case may not be models of clarity,” the opinion states. “Even if there may be some ambiguity in the relevant statutes, however, we are required to adopt the narrowest reasonable interpretation, because these are tax laws. Seen through that lens, we cannot say that the imposition of a children’s services sales tax, based solely on a favorable vote of the electorate, is ‘expressly’ or ‘clearly authorized,’ or that such a power is ‘conferred by plain [statutory] language.’ The Platte County Commission, and the Department of Revenue, were not required to levy and implement a children’s services sales tax based solely on the favorable result of the November 2024 election. Because the commission and department did not have a mandatory, ministerial duty to implement the tax, the circuit court did not err when it denied mandamus relief.”
The Platte County 4 Kids Coalition, which spearheaded efforts to get the tax placed on the ballot, came before the commission in early 2024 to ask it to place a quarter-cent sales tax on the ballot. Commissioners declined. Later that year, the coalition submitted approximately 8,400 signatures to the Platte County Clerk’s Office to place a quarter-cent sales tax initiative on the Nov. 5 ballot. This, too, was declined, until the court ordered the Board of Elections to place it on the November ballot. There, it passed with 56 percent of voters approving of the new tax.
In December 2024, commissioners voted unanimously to not levy the tax, after a contentious two-hour commission meeting, with many members of the public speaking out in support of the tax.
County attorney Rob Redman said commissioners could choose not to levy the tax due to the language in state statute, that said the county commission “may” levy the tax. This language implies the commission may also chose to not levy the tax.
The petition to implement the tax was filed on behalf of Plumb and Bennett, against the commission and the Missouri Department of Revenue.
In the petition, they stated the commission has no power to override the will of a majority of voters, that the Department of Revenue has a ministerial duty to process the children’s services tax and that Missouri law does not permit the commission to nullify a decision made by Platte County voters.
The use of “may” simply identifies the preconditions for a county to have authority to levy a children’s services tax, the petition argues. It does not vest the commission with discretion to do what they want after a vote of the people.
The commission was also asked to appoint a nine-member board to administer the funds generated by the children’s services tax.