Amendment 6 is one of several ballot measures that will be decided by voters during the Nov. 5 general election.
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Amendment 6 is one of several ballot measures that will be decided by voters during the Nov. 5 general election.
Amendment 6 seeks to overturn a 2021 Missouri Supreme Court decision prohibiting courts from assessing a $3 fee towards the Missouri Sheriffs Retirement System on cases where a guilty verdict or plea is rendered.
The fee was first written into law with the creation of the retirement system in 1983, but was found unconstitutional in 2021 because justices decided it was not a cost directly related to the administration of justice, per the Missouri Constitution.
Amendment 6 would reverse that decision.
Warren County Sheriff Kevin Harrison has asked voters to approve Amendment 6, and saw the loss of the fee for the retirement fund as an effort to defund the police, which he stated “has no place in Missouri.”
Currently, the retirement system is the only pension available to county sheriffs since as elected officials they are excluded from the County Employee Retirement Fund once they attain the office.
Active sheriffs contribute 5% of their salary to the fund, and $2.5 million was injected into the fund by the state legislature in 2023 as a one-time payment. Officials state under the current conditions, that fund will be insolvent in nine years without additional funding.
There are obvious concerns if the fund should fail. Any current retirees would lose their pension, and the active sheriffs would not see a dime of the retirement fund they spent their careers paying into, but Harrison sees other concerns as well.
“If this isn’t successful, if it fails, and the program isn’t shored up and restored, who’s going to want to run for sheriff?” Asked Harrison.
He continued, saying he felt the loss of the retirement fund would contribute to higher turnover in Sheriffs’ offices. Harrison felt they would see more younger candidates running to build resumes, who he thought would be quick to leave the position.
There are, however, other avenues that sheriffs could try to use to bring in the funding they need. They could turn to the state legislature and ask for more money from the state’s coffers, or they could turn to the voters, and ask them to approve a tax.
Harrison sees problems with both of these solutions.
He expressed concern that county sheriffs would be beholden to the whims of elected officials in Jefferson City who could decide to change the funds available or change their minds and remove those funds entirely.
“That puts them in a position I think, possibly of control, and influence of offices where the oversight should be the people, not politicians,” said Harrison.
He was also concerned with the prospect of raising taxes and felt that it would be unpopular.
He felt the reinstitution of the fee was the best way to keep the retirement fund solvent, since it assessed the cost to those who have already been found guilty of crimes or violations under state law, instead of taxpayers.
Although he could not say with certainty what would happen without it, he felt it would lead to the deterioration of the office of sheriff.
“The downstream impact I see, we have had sitting sheriffs resign over this and take jobs at their local police departments because they get paid more and they just can’t risk their family’s financial future,” said Harrison.