A law enforcement tax passed on Nov. 4 is expected to generate an estimated $300,000 annually for the Steelville Police Department.

“I’m excited and thankful that voters passed it,” said Steelville Chief of Police Mike Sherman.

Crawford County Clerk Kimberly Gibbs said there was a total of 116 ballots cast, with 61 yes and 55 no votes.

A low turnout was somewhat expected, partially due to an accidental advertising error that was noticed on Nov. 3, the day before the election. 

Due to a recent retirement and staff changes, an unintentional mistake was made, omitting the publication of the Nov. 4 sample ballot, in the Steelville Star for two weeks before the election.  

Missouri law mandates that the municipality must run a sample ballot in the newspaper of record for two weeks before the scheduled election. Newspaper staff spotted the discrepancy on Nov. 3 and questioned city and county officials about the error. 

According to Gibbs, there was an advertisement in the newspaper for the notice of the absentee voting on Sept. 24, but no sample ballot was scheduled to be published after that. Gibbs said the honest mishap occurred during the process of transitioning from the retired election manager to the new one. 

To ensure the election results would pass legal muster, she also said the Office of Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins was notified about the error. 

“I would like to take full responsibility for the oversight of not posting a sample ballot in the newspaper,” Gibbs said in a statement. “I apologize to the citizens of the city of Steelville and reassure everyone that my office will take measures so that this doesn't happen again. In the future, we will not only post in the newspaper but will be posting on the county website as well.”

It is not yet known when law enforcement will first begin to access and use the funds voters approved. Sherman said that one of his first orders of business will be to hire a new full-time police officer, which he hopes will help increase safety. Alderman Ward 2 Jason Ward shares in Sherman’s excitement of having the measure pass.

“I am very ecstatic that it did pass,” Ward said. “This is something that Chief Sherman and I have had many conversations about. I know he is very passionate about our police department and what it can do for the city. I am amazed at the turnout and happy to see that the citizens of Steelville turned out.”

The cost to put the law enforcement tax on the ballot was an estimated $10,000, Sherman said. Also, he said he would like to use a portion of the funds from the passed measure at some point to relocate the police station from its current location to a more central location in Steelville.