Springfield sales tax revenue down

(From the City of Springfield)

The City of Springfield's November 2016 1% general sales tax check from the Missouri Department of Revenue is down 5% compared to the amount budgeted. The check reflects sales processed by the state in October from transactions made primarily in September.

The sales tax check was $2,767,906, compared to the budgeted amount of $2,910,043.

When comparing to the same month last year, November receipts are up $245,577, or 10% over November of 2015.

The City heavily relies on sales tax revenues as its main source of revenue to fund vital services, such as police and fire operations. In Springfield, approximately 60% of revenue in the General Fund comes from sales tax and use tax.

Agenda posted for Springfield City Council lunch meeting

Springfield City Council Lunch
Tuesday, November 8, 2016
12:00 Noon
Busch Municipal Building – 4th Floor Conference Room
840 N. Boonville Avenue

TENTATIVE AGENDA

1. Review of the Upcoming November 14, 2016 City Council Meeting Agenda-Greg Burris

2. Project Combo–Sarah Kerner

3. CU-Sewer Billing Charge-Steve Meyer

4. Any and all matters to come before the City Council

5. Adjourn to Special City Council Meeting Closed Session.

Plea deal reached on MSU quarterback's animal abuse charge

(From the City of Springfield)

Springfield Chief Municipal Prosecutor Carl Yendes announces that the City has reached a plea agreement with Missouri State University quarterback Breck Ruddick, 20, on his two outstanding municipal charges of cruelty to animals (Section 18-9) and permitting a dog to run at large (Section 18-53) of the City Code. The charges stem from events occurring in the early morning hours of Sept. 20.

Sec. 18-9 (a) reads: No person shall be cruel or inhumane to any dog or cat by beating, torturing, kicking or other physical abuse.

Sec. 18-53 (a) reads: It shall be unlawful for any person owning, controlling, harboring, possessing, or having the management or care of any dog to permit such dog to run at large.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of $1000 and/or up to 180 days in jail.

The plea agreement calls for a plea of guilty on the dog at large charge, with a $1,000 fine and court costs. $500 of the file will be suspended for two years from the date of the guilty plea. Ruddick will be placed on supervised probation for that time period. Ruddick will be required to attend an anger management program and maintain good behavior for the entire probationary period. If Ruddick successfully completes the anger management program and pays the non-suspended part of the fine within the first year of probation, the probation may be converted to unsupervised for the second year. Ruddick’s duty to obey all laws and ordinances shall continue for the entire probationary period.

On the animal cruelty charge, the City has agreed to defer prosecution of the charge for two years. During that time, the case will be removed from the active docket, and Ruddick will be required to perform 150 hours of community service work within 300 days and maintain good behavior. The completion of the requirements in the dog at large plea agreement are also a part of the conditions of the deferral on this charge. At the end of the deferral period, if all items have been timely completed and no new violations of laws or ordinances have occurred, the animal cruelty charge will be dismissed at that time. If a violation of the deferral agreement occurs, the case will be reinstated to the court's active docket, and may be set for trial. The deferred prosecution agreement is not an admission of guilt by Ruddick to the charge.

Yendes stated that the factual circumstances of the case made the plea agreement appropriate.

"One item, not widely known previously, is that there is evidence that Mr. Ruddick was bitten by the dog at the time of alleged abuse. That, combined with some of the other facts of the case, support this as an appropriate disposition of the two charges."

Yendes referred the animal abuse matter to the Greene County Prosecuting Attorney’s office last week. County Prosecutor Dan Patterson declined to file state charges.

The Animal Control Division of the Springfield-Greene County Health Department investigated the incident and cited Ruddick Sept. 26.

(Note: MSU suspended Ruddick for the remainder of the season after the charges were filed. Published reports indicate that Ruddick broke the dog's jaw and then turned it loose.)

Springfield Public Schools facilities plan update reflects new consideration

(From Springfield Public Schools)

A facility master plan update presented Tuesday, Nov. 1, to the Springfield school board reflected some new considerations, added as a result of community input provided during recent public meetings.

Initially, proposed facility master plan improvements primarily focused on buildings that were rated as “poor” or “unsatisfactory” during an independent evaluation of district buildings. The recent presentation included information for the school board to consider expanding the number of sites to be impacted.

During community input sessions, some participants noted that there were no significant improvements proposed over the next 10-12 years for sites currently rated as “fair.” In response to these comments, SPS administrators asked MGT of America, the firm conducting the facility assessments and guiding the facility master plan process, to provide cost estimates for improving the learning environment at 12 additional sites.

MGT estimated that an additional investment of $31 million would be needed to increase the rating from “fair” to “good” at Disney, Gray, Holland, Jeffries, McBride and Truman elementary schools, Carver and Cherokee middle schools, Phelps Center, Shady Dell and Shining Stars early childhood centers and Study Alternative Center. Investment per site ranges between $1.1 million to $4.6 million for this estimate.

The school board will continue to seek public input and additional information as they weigh the options being considered in the development of the facility master plan over the next several weeks.

View the complete board FMP update here.
Learn more about the FMP and future input meetings here.

Hearing held in Springfield-Greene County jail lawsuit

(From the City of Springfield)

Judge John D. Beger of the 25th Judicial Court of Missouri heard arguments Nov. 3, on the City of Springfield’s motion for partial summary judgment in a lawsuit filed by the City to gain access to the City-County Consolidated Justice Center (City-County Jail).

The City, County and Sheriff had the opportunity to present arguments in support and in opposition to the City’s motion at the Summary Judgment hearing. Judge Beger has taken the issue under advisement.

The lawsuit, filed in July 2015, in the Greene County Circuit Court, sought a declaratory judgment on Sheriff Jim Arnott’s contractual requirement to accept City’s inmates arrested for municipal offenses. Other counts which were argued as a part of the City’s motion for summary judgement included a request for injunctive relief, and specific performance to require the Sheriff to accept municipal prisoners while the lawsuit is ongoing.

In 1997, Greene County voters approved a law enforcement sales tax (LEST) to fund several community initiatives, including the City-County Jail. At that time, the City and County entered into a written contract related to housing of the City’s prisoners. That intergovernmental agreement (IGA) determines the use of LEST revenue.

As part of the IGA, the City, County and then-Sheriff agreed that the “Sheriff shall accept all municipal, county or federal prisoners brought to the jail.

Federal grand jury indicts Marshfield couple for dental health care fraud

(From the U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri)

A. Marshfield, Mo., husband and wife have been indicted by a federal grand jury for their roles in health care fraud and payroll tax fraud schemes that totaled more than $1 million.

 Pamela Van Drie, 57, and her husband, Lorin G. Van Drie, 57, both of Marshfield, were charged in a 40-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo., on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016. That indictment was unsealed and made public today upon the arrest and initial court appearance of Pamela Van Drie.

 Pamela and Lorin Van Drie were the owners of All About Smiles, LLC, a Springfield company that provided dental services at clinics in Springfield (until it closed in November 2015), Mountain Grove, Mo., (until it closed in October 2014) and Bolivar, Mo. (until it closed in March 2014). They also owned PL Family Management Company, LLC, which managed the staff for those clinics.

 $885,748 Health Care Fraud Conspiracy

Today’s indictment alleges that Pamela Van Drie participated in a conspiracy to commit health care fraud from Oct. 6, 2010, to Aug. 19, 2015. According to the indictment, this conspiracy consisted of a fraud scheme related to dentures and other dental services and a fraud scheme related to orthodontic appliances. Both fraud schemes involved fraudulent Medicaid claims and payments.

Pamela Van Drie and a dentist at the clinics arranged for All About Smiles to provide dentures and other dental services to adults who did not qualify for Medicaid reimbursement. They allegedly submitted claims to Medicaid for those dentures and other dental services, knowing that Medicaid’s requirements were not met.

The indictment alleges that Pamela Van Drie, through All About Smiles, submitted and received $720,048 on numerous claims for dentures and other dental services that lacked the required written referral from a physician.

Additionally, according to the indictment, Pamela Van Drie and a dentist at the clinics purchased Oroth-Tain orthodontic appliances (designed to straighten teeth without braces) for approximately $50 each, provided them to Medicaid pediatric beneficiaries and billed each such appliance to Medicaid as a speech aid prosthesis for approximately $695. They knew the Ortho-Tain appliances should have been billed to Medicaid as orthodontic services, the indictment says; they also knew Medicaid did not cover orthodontic services unless the Medicaid program’s requirements were met and they received precertification, which required review by a dentist/orthodontist employed by Medicaid. They allegedly billed the Ortho-Tain appliances as speech aid prostheses in order to bypass the precertification requirement.

Between Oct. 6, 2010, and Aug. 19, 2015, Pamela Van Drie submitted and received payment for approximately 241 claims submitted for speech aid prosthesis.  On each claim, All About Smiles was paid between $675 to $695, for an approximate total amount of $165,700.  

$194,751 Payroll Tax Fraud Conspiracy

In addition to the health care fraud conspiracy, Pamela and Lorin Van Drie are charged with participating in a conspiracy to defraud the government by failing to pay over the IRS payroll taxes from Jan. 31, 2013, to Jan. 31, 2015. Although payroll taxes were withheld from the paychecks of employees at All About Smiles and PL Family Management Company, the indictment says, the Van Dries failed to pay over to the IRS approximately $194,751 in payroll taxes.

According to the indictment, the Van Dries diverted substantial amount of money from their businesses during this period. They allegedly caused All About Smiles and PL Family Management Company to make thousands of dollars for their personal benefit while failing to pay over to the IRS payroll taxes withheld from their employees’ paychecks.

Rather than paying the payroll taxes due and owing, the indictment alleges, the Van Dries purchased and made payments on a 2013 Tracker boat and trailer, a recreational vehicle, multiple vehicles (including a 2010 Hummer and a 2009 Mercedes), diamonds, several utility trailers, two golf carts, a motorcycle, expenses associated with two homes and family vacations in Florida, and a pulling truck called “Momma’s Money,” which Pamela Van Drie’s son used in pulling competitions throughout Missouri.

Additional Charges

In addition to the two conspiracy charges, Pamela Van Drie is charged with eight counts of health care fraud related to fraudulent claims for speech aid prosetheses, 10 counts of health care fraud related to fraudulent claims for dentures and other dental services and one count of theft of public money related to unemployment benefits that she was not entitled to receive. Lorin Van Drie is also charged with one count of theft of public money related to unemployment benefits that he was not entitled to receive and 18 counts of failure to pay over employment tax.

Today’s indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Pamela Van Drie to forfeit to the government any property derived from the gross proceeds traceable to the alleged offenses, including at least $885,748.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven M. Mohlhenrich and Cindi S. Woolery and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Shannon T. Kempf. It was investigated by the Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General, the Missouri Attorney General’s Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and IRS-Criminal Investigation.

Intersection of Jefferson, Phelps to close beginning Saturday

(From the City of Springfield)

The intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Phelps Street will be closed for construction work related to the Jefferson Avenue Streetscape Project beginning at 7 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 5, until Monday, Nov. 14, weather permitting.

Springfield driver falls asleep, runs into tree

A Springfield man was injured in a one-vehicle accident 3:10 p.m. today on South Farm Road 141, two miles west of Nixa.

According to the Highway Patrol report, Tonja L. Ritchie, 55, Springfield, fell asleep and ran off the right side of the roadway, striking a tree.

Ritchie was treated for minor injuries at Cox South Hospital, Springfield.

Portion of Lyon Avenue to be closed for a month

(From the City of Springfield)

Lyon Avenue between Chase Street and Commercial Street will close for approximately one month beginning at 8 a.m. Monday, Nov. 7 for the replacement of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railroad bridge.

Springfield Councilman Prater schedules community meeting

(From the City of Springfield)

Zone 2 City Councilman Dr. Tom Prater cordially invites Springfield residents to a community meeting 6-7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 16 at Alice Pittman Elementary, 2934 E. Bennett.

Join Dr. Prater and Zone 2 neighbors to discuss what's happening in Zone 2. Zone 2's boundaries are the Springfield city limits to the north, Sunshine Street to the south, National Avenue to the west and the city limits to the east.