Recycling tax money to provide County services

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2018

We, and another 19 South East Missouri Counties, were faced with losing the rented space our morgue was using. We met with the owners of a large empty building in our County and explained the tax benefits of donating to a non-profit and the Public Relations windfall that would result. That hospital then DONATED the building to us! We used 4,000 sq. ft. of the building for our new state-of-the-art morgue and body cooler while the remainder is used for County purposes or rented to other governmental agencies that were paying rent elsewhere. The rental income provides an annual profit from the building after paying all utility, maintenance and insurance costs. The neighborhood is much improved with the active use of the building and our County has delayed the probable need for building expansion for decades. Our re-use (recycling) of this tax money to pay for building expenses is a unique and profitable way of solving several problems We collect the rent money from the agency tenants and pay operating expenses as a way to put that money back into the local economy. The building generates a profit for the County.