Clay County, Missouri

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Budget P Meetings Y Elected Officials Y Administrative Officials Y Permits, zoning Y Audits P Contracts Y Lobbying Y Public records P Local taxes Y Transparency grading process

Portions of this article were taken from Wikipedia

Clay County is one of 114 counties in Missouri.

It is the seventh most populous county in Missouri. As of 2010, the population was 221,939.^[1] Its county seat is Liberty. The county was organized in 1822 and was named in honor of U.S. Representative Henry Clay from Kentucky, later member of the United States Senate and United States Secretary of State.

Clay County is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area.

Website evaluation

In 2011 Clay County earned a Sunny Award for having a perfect website transparency score.

Main article: Evaluation of Missouri county websites

This website was most recently reviewed on 19 March 2013.

The good

• Budget
  • The most current budget is listed.
  • Budgets are archived for 2 years.^[2]
• Meetings
  • Meeting minutes are archived for 4 years.
  • Meeting agendas are archived for 4 years.
  • A meeting calendar is available and names the times and locations of public meetings.^[3]
• Elected Officials
  • Elected officials are listed with a mailing address, phone number and personalized email.^[4]
• Administrative officials
  • Department heads are listed for each department.
  • Contact information for administrative officials is provided including a mailing address, phone number, and personalized email.^[4]
• Permits and zoning
  • Zoning ordinances are posted online.
  • Permit applications can be downloaded on the site, along with information on how to apply for the permits.^[5]
• Audits
  • The most recent audit is posted.
  • Audits dating back to 2011 are available.^[6]
• Contracts
  • Bids and RFPs are posted online.
  • Approved contract statements are provided for vendors.^[7]
• Lobbying
  • The County discloses it's a member of government sector lobbying associations and membership dues for associations available.
  • Provides a link to the Missouri Association of Counties, a government sector lobbying organization. It also lists its membership expenses on the budget^[8][2]
• Taxes
  • Tax revenues are broken down by federal, state, and local funding in the budget.
  • Local taxes, like property taxes, are available online.
  • Residents are able to pay taxes online.^[9]

The bad

• Budget
  • Budgets are not archived for at least 3 years.
• Audits
  • Audits are not archived for 3 years.
• Public records
  • Records on Real Estate, Marriage Licenses, and Military Discharges are available online, but information on how to make a public records request is not provided.^[10]

Budget

^[2]

Public employees

Elected officials

The Clay County Commission, the County's elected Officers and the County Administrator combine to govern the County in a council-manager form of government. This system of government combines the experience of locally elected political leadership with strong managerial support from an appointed government manager.^[4]

Administrative officials

A list of county departments and offices can be found here.

County Administrator

The Clay County Administrator's position is integral to the professional management of the County's day-to-day operations. The Administrator carries out County policy, is responsive to the Clay County Commission and administers local government projects and programs on behald of the Commission through a staff of appointed professionals representing numerous departments. The Administrator serves in an advisory capacity to the Clay County Commission. In addition, among other resposibilities, the County Administrator serves as Chief Budget Officer and oversees budgeting, recruitment, hiring and supervision activities throughout each of the County's departments.^[11]

The current Administrator is Alexa Barton.^[11]

Salaries

The total amount paid for County employee salaries is $21,672,948 in 2011.^[12]

Below are Clay County employees earning more than $75,000 a year.^[12]

Pensions

County employees participate in the Missouri Local Government Employees Retirement System. MOLAGERS is a defined benefit retirement plan covering over 600 employers, with 33,000 active members and 16,000 retirees.^[13]

Lobbying

Clay County is a member of the Missouri Association of Counties and the National Association of Counties.^[8]

Transparency & public records

Clay County earned a 2012 Sunny Award for receiving a perfect score on Sunshine Review's Ten Point Transparency Checklist.

Taxes

The county collects a real estate and personal property tax. Real estate for residential property is calculated at 19% of market value, and commercial property at 32%. Personal property is based on 33.3% of market value. A tax estimate can be gauged by visiting the tax collector's webpage.^[9]

External links

Clay County

• Official Clay County Website
• 7th Judicial Circuit of Clay County
• Clay County Board of Election Commissioners
• Clay County Public Health Center
• Clay County Economic Development Council
• Clay County on E-Reference

References

	v • d • e State of Missouri Jefferson City (capital)
Transparency	Sunshine Law | Transparency Checklist | Government corruption reports | Transparency Legislation | Open Records procedures | Transparency Advocates | Transparency blogs | State budget | Taxpayer-funded lobbying associations |
Divisions	State | List of Counties | List of Cities | List of School Districts | Evaluation of county websites | Evaluation of city websites | Evaluation of school district websites |
Government	Missouri State Constitution | Executive | House of Representatives | Senate |
Judiciary	Missouri Supreme Court | County circuit judges | District Courts | Judicial Nominating Commission | Judicial news | Judicial activist organizations |
Ballot Measures	2008 ballot measures | List of ballot measures | Local initiative and referendum | Amending the constitution | History of direct democracy | Campaign finance requirements |