Friday my wife found a nice surprise in the mail: a check for $225.29 from the State of Missouri.
Yes, just five months and a couple of weeks after we filed our 2018 tax return, Jefferson City sent us our $222.00 refund – and $3.29 in interest for the processing delay.
Ironically, I spent the biggest chunk of Friday in Jefferson City. I listened (mostly politely) as state officials tried to explain their staff not opening critical e-mails for more than 15 days; years of delays in data processing software upgrades; scores of staff positions essentially unfillable due to low pay and horrible working conditions; multiple programs shedding significant numbers of participants, and, well, the state just plain not following rules about notifying lawyers and others connected to benefit cases.
Welcome to Missouri.
In other news last week, the Springfield News-Leader ran a piece on the growing number of school districts going to four day school weeks. Essentially, that means kids go to classes 148 days instead of the old standard of 174. This year 11% of Missouri’s districts opted for the shorter weeks. In the story, a school administrator praised the cutback…
“A lot of times in a rural district, if you are close to a Springfield … you are competing with folks who are going to pay a higher wage,” said Spokane Superintendent Della Bell-Freeman. “You’ve got to come up with a way to get folks to look at your district, first of all, and then to want to stay.” — Springfield News Leader
In other words, if you can’t pay the going wage, try to get slackers to work for you.
Of course, with Missouri staying cheap on school funding (especially money to keep busses rolling), many expect dozens of additional rural districts to go to four day weeks next school year. Research on the impacts of four day weeks is still being assembled, but a Harvard study seems to find more “uh-ohs” than “greats.”
Now, I readily admit to being a cranky old guy. I have scant patience for things which don’t work the way they should, be that a downtown St. Louis parking meter, a fast food joint, or a state government. It should not take the Missouri Department of Revenue five months and a couple of weeks to process a middle class tax return. And, critical things such as medical coverage decisions and getting food stamps to struggling families should be quick, predictable and in line with the rules.
Yet, now in Missouri the state would rather pay $3.29 in interest than process a tax return in a timely matter. And, the welfare of the people be damned, Missouri would rather be a cheap state than a good state. Stay tuned.
Glenn Koenen