Buchanan County commissioners will not put a hotel/motel tax increase on the November ballot and delayed their timeline to construct a nearly $30 million agricultural expo center.
In their first public meeting with the city of St. Joseph, county commissioners said Monday they need to cultivate community support and raise private money before construction. For now, they’ve scratched any idea of a tax levy increase by 5 percent on the county’s hotel and motel rooms.
“There will be no tax on the November ballot,” said Eastern District County Commissioner Dan Hausman, one of the county’s main proponents for the Buchanan County Agri-Buisness Expo Center. “We’re not going to ask for a tax unless the community supports it.”

Exactly two years after state investigators questioned Buchanan County’s public administrator and seized items from her office, the government investigation still hasn’t concluded. The Buchanan County Prosecutor’s Office — an original player in the investigation — says it is out of the loop. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas City — which decides if there will be formal charges — won’t confirm an investigation is ongoing. But the FBI — the lead investigating agency — said the investigation widely reported in the media in 2006 is still an open matter.

About half a mile from the proposed Triumph Foods plant in East Moline, Ill., Lucille Kannenberg is afraid of the unknown.

A judge on Friday denied bond for a woman accused of shooting her husband while he was in bed and rejected her guilty plea because it was premature.
Alleging that she had shot her sleeping husband at point-blank range, Buchanan County Prosecutor Dwight Scroggins called Robin D. Sands a danger to the community. Associate Circuit Court Judge Keith Marquart agreed and remanded her to the Buchanan County Jail without bond.

Buchanan County commissioners are out of money to improve roads and bridges and they say a harsh winter and high gas prices are to blame. By the end of August, the county will have used all its nearly $2 million budget to buy fuel, pave and maintain roads and bridges, and repair road equipment. Commissioners have suspended all major roadwork including laying gravel and chip-and-seal (an abrasive that looks like blacktop) until the new budget year begins in January, or money is found elsewhere.

When Bambi Auten’s wisdom teeth began giving her trouble two years ago, she couldn’t get into the free dental clinic quick enough.

In an overnight express package, the Buchanan County Collector’s Office received a $36,171 payment in back taxes on Tuesday.

Fourteen people rounded up following a break-in on what officers called a known drug house early Tuesday made their first court appearance on burglary and drug possession charges Friday.

On 50 acres just off Interstate 29, county commissioners hope to reclaim Buchanan County’s agricultural envy by constructing a $30 million agricultural expo center. But a day after voters overwhelmingly voted down a tax to provide expanded assistance to senior citizens, county commissioners are unsure whether to put the issue before voters on the Nov. 5 ballot.

Buchanan County wants its buildings more green and efficient, but doesn’t plan to spend any money doing it.