HERMANN — The attorney for the Gasconade County Commission Thursday morning repeated his earlier advice cautioning county administrators from committing a minimum amount of General Revenue Fund dollars to the Sheriff’s Department as part of plan for a half-cent sales tax for law enforcement.

Attorney Ivan Schraeder spoke to the Commission via telephone a week after he first offered advice regarding specifics contained in a proposal by Sheriff Scott Eiler to seek voter approval of a sales tax to fund local law enforcement. Under that plan, the money raised by the tax would be shared with five of county’s six municipalities with the cities’ police departments receiving 25 percent of the amount raised by the tax.

The shared funding is being proposed as a way to win support within municipalities for a new sales tax. The cities of Owensville, Hermann, Rosebud, Gasconade and Bland would receive a portion of the revenue, based on their populations. Morrison is not included in the distribution because that city does not have a certified law enforcement officer.

But while Owensville officials have unofficially endorsed the sales tax proposal, Hermann officials have not, reportedly harboring reservations about the amount the city would receive. The sheriff recently said he was figuring distribution based on an estimated revenue of $1 million.

Two weeks ago, Schraeder spoke with County Clerk Lesa Lietzow, who relayed the points he made after reviewing the sales tax proposal. Last week, in speaking directly with the Commission over the telephone, the attorney repeated his earlier remarks. While sharing the revenue generated by a sales tax with the cities is acceptable, he urged the Commission not to specify a split within the ballot title.

The split could be explained in wording below the ballot title.

He also repeated a caution against the administrators committing a minimum amount of General Revenue Fund dollars to the Sheriff’s Department, which the sheriff is asking for as a way to ensure additional funding for the agency.

The sheriff’s agency in the 2021 budget received slightly more than $1 million. Under the proposal submitted by Eiler, this year’s budget would set the floor for General Fund dollars allocated to the department.

But members of the Commission are hesitant to guarantee a minimum level of funding for the department. Such a commitment was an issue in recent years when then-Sheriff John Romanus went to the Commission seeking a vote on a law enforcement tax. He asked for a similar commitment of General Fund dollars, but the administrators declined.

Schraeder on Thursday did clarify one point regarding the portion that would be distributed to the cities. If the Commission and a city could not come to terms in crafting an intergovernmental agreement providing the funds, the money that particular city would have received would not return to the Sheriff’s Department portion, as originally thought. Rather, it would be returned to the portion to be distributed to the municipalities, meaning the other four cities would receive a larger share than if all five cities received a portion.

As it did a week earlier, the Commission took under advisement the comments received Thursday from Schraeder. If the administrators decide to move forward with crafting a sales tax proposal, they have until Jan. 25 to adopt an order placing an issue on the April ballot.