Platte County Commission hopefuls talk a pretty similar game — except on these issues

On a basic level, the two candidates running to fill the open seat on the three-person Platte County Commission have a lot in common. They both have MBAs and experience managing finances, and they both agree the county needs to expand its jail and improve its credit score.

But they vary on their approach to some key issues in the county, including how they think of the role of law enforcement.

Allyson Berberich, a Republican, and Charles McDonald, a Democrat, are facing off for the District 1 seat to join Commissioner Joe Vanover and Presiding Commissioner Scott Fricker, both Republicans. The commissioner-elect would replace Dagmar Wood, who was first elected in 2016. Wood gave up her spot to run for the Platte County assessor against Marcus Farr, an appraiser in the assessor’s office, and lost by 72 votes in the August primary.

Like Wood, Berberich has a background in volunteering with schools and finances. Before being elected as a Parkville alderwoman last year, she served on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission for four years.

McDonald, a laboratory scientist at North Kansas City Hospital, said he would bring a unique perspective as a regular Platte County resident, not someone from a political background. Still, he brings years of experience working with nonprofits and budgets.

“I saw some of the actions of the commission that’s out of step with the people of Platte County,” he said. “My thought was, well if a regular citizen runs for the commission, maybe the regular people in Platte County might have a voice on the commission.”

Platte County’s failed jail tax

Both candidates agree that a jail expansion is needed, but the county needs a different way to pay for it after voters widely rejected a proposed sales tax.

The August ballot asked two questions about an expansion, both of which needed a majority vote to move forward with the plan. One asked about issuing general obligation bonds that needed a 4/7 majority, and the second sought a half-of-a-cent increase in sales tax. The bond question had 54% voter approval, while the sales tax failed with only 38% of voters in favor of the 20-year tax.

This isn’t the first time a proposed jail expansion has failed in the county. Voters also rejected a similar tax back in 2019.

If elected, Berberich and McDonald say they’d want to tackle the issue head-on with voters and talk to the community about a new plan for the expansion.

“My perspective will be complementary to the other commissioners, but just different in that I have a penny-pinching, money-saving budget mindset, just naturally from the small business world,” said Berberich.

As a small business owner who manages accounts for her clients, she said she has the experience and expertise to look closely at the county’s money and find unique ways to save.

McDonald said the county hadn’t secured enough buy-in before bringing the tax question to the ballot, and he would have suggested an extra step — surveying voters.

“Let’s go into a public forum or community forum, and let’s discuss these proposals and see where the community will fall on one of these proposals, then place that on the ballot,” he said.

For large projects like this, McDonald said he’d push for more community-oriented conversations before jumping to a public vote, including voters from smaller cities and communities that aren’t just Parkville and Riverside.

“Sometimes we need to move those meeting dates and times around just so we can accommodate more citizens,” he said.

Boosting the county’s credit score

Platte County’s credit rating took a major ding several years ago when Zona Rosa defaulted on its mortgage and the county refused to cover debt payments for the development’s expansion.

As it stands now, its low credit score signals to investors that the county is a risky investment. That means the county faces high interest rates when borrowing money, which means more expensive bonds for taxpayers on projects like the jail plan.

At a town hall in October, Berberich and McDonald pointed this out as a major issue to be fixed for a jail plan to move forward.

“We both agree that having that bad credit rating,” said Berberich. “It made the proposal and the amount of money that would need to be borrowed so grossly inflated because of the bad interest rate that we would receive with our bad credit rating.”

Both candidates want to work to repair the county’s rating and go back to the drawing board regarding how to fund a jail expansion.

McDonald pointed out the county already does a good job with transparency and that they should continue.

“We should continue to do that so we can prove to the credit bureaus that we are a good risk,” he said.

Diverging on public safety

Current county commissioners and Berberich have strong opinions on the importance of supporting the sheriff’s office, especially financially, in the guise of public safety.

“Public safety and law enforcement are really important to me,” said Berberich. “I want to continue to keep the county safe and work closely with the sheriff and provide the services and support that they need to do their job.”

But this doesn’t necessarily mean Berberich supports increasing taxes. With her background in finance, she said she wants to keep her thumb on the budget to find ways to reallocate funds to important sectors like law enforcement and potentially find other places where taxes can be cut.

But for McDonald, public safety means more than just backing the sheriff’s office.

“Law enforcement doesn’t want to be counselors,” he said. “We need to be looking at ways to have mental health counselors to be able to intervene in those types of situations.”

His take differs from the current commissions’ standpoint on limited government. Vanover, the 2nd District, has been vocal about his opposition to the Platte County Children’s Services Fund tax on the basis of wanting to shrink the scope of the government.

Platte County Residents can vote early and submit their absentee ballots now through Nov. 5.