HERMANN — Gasconade County Assessor Paul Schulte Thursday morning voiced concern about the apparently significant number of off-road vehicles — ATVs, UTVs and side-by-sides — that are not included by residents as personal property items subject to taxation.

Especially the side-by-sides, which seem to be growing in popularity and have migrated from being a farm vehicle to a more general-use vehicle, Schulte told the County Commission during its weekly session. He added that getting those vehicles on the personal property tax rolls is a concern for county governments across the state.

“That’s an issue in a lot of rural counties,” Schulte said. “It’s a vehicle that’s slipping through the political radar.”

Former Sheriff John Romanus several years ago persuaded the Commission to put in place a program aimed at keeping track of the vehicles by requiring owners to purchase and display a sticker. Prohibited from operating on state highways, the vehicles are driven largely on county roads and private property. County officials have voiced concern about the effects of the off-road vehicles on county roads.

To obtain a sticker, the Sheriff’s Department required an owner to show a current personal property tax receipt. Getting the off-road vehicles included as a personal property item essentially amounted to an honor system approach. As the assessor explained, sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t.

“Thank goodness there are a lot of people with integrity in this county, because we do get a lot of them,” Schulte said.

Unlike cars and trucks, these vehicles do not have a title that can be searched through state government, Schulte said. That leaves county officials to rely on owners to include the vehicles on their list of personal property items when they receive their property declarations early in the year.

“I’m just trying to get the public aware,” the assessor said.

Also at last week’s Commission session, Diane Hartmann of Hermann was appointed to the Gasconade County Mental Health Board. That group meets several times a year to decide how to divide a dedicated property tax among providers of mental health services.

“I thank Diane for doing that,” said Northern District Associate Commissioner Jim Holland, R-Hermann. “It’s tough to find people to do that anymore.”

The survey of county government employees is due on Friday regarding employee preference of a larger pay raise or a larger retirement contribution. The Commission is polling employees as it considers expanding county government’s contribution to the workers’ LAGERS (Local Government Employee Retirement System) program. County administrators said the employees might prefer having more money now through a slightly larger pay raise at the beginning of the year rather than collect a slightly larger retirement bonus when they retire, which could be many years from now, especially for the younger employees.