DONIPHAN — Ripley County will be able to hire a full-time prosecuting attorney for the first time in its history, thanks to the approval this month of a half-cent sales tax.
The sales tax will go into effect Oct. 1, according to discussion at a recent meeting of Ripley County commissioners.
This is the first taxable quarter after the certification of results, official said. The results were certified Aug. 5. A bi-partisan committee selects a polling place to verify the machines and make sure the results match, for the certification.
“It’s a new age for criminal justice,” noted county treasurer Terry Slayton regarding the passage of the ballot item allowing for a full-time prosecuting attorney.
The prosecutor’s office employs a prosecuting assistant and one that works with child support.
Slayton also discussed with commissioners an effort to consolidate some of the county’s 13 road districts.
The districts must be adjoining and the ceilings/floors of the tax subdivisions must be considered, officials said.
Roy indicated that Travis Elliott, the attorney for the Missouri Association of Counties (MAC), said if such consolidation happens, the lower of the two levies must be adopted in the combined one.
Slayton has suggested combining four of the districts into two.
He discussed combining Oxly and Little Black districts, and Logan Creek and Fairdealing districts. Oxly has the lower rate in the first pair, Fairdealing in the second. Such a move would reduce the number of county road districts from 13 to 11. The levies in the 13 districts range from 17 cents to 82 cents.