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Missouri bill would let sewer-district trustees receive up to $100 monthly
Summary
A bill sponsored by Rep. Barry Hovis would standardize trustee pay across water, sewer and reorganized sewer districts, allowing trustees to be paid up to $100 per month. The measure drew supportive testimony from district representatives and trade groups during a House Local Government committee hearing.
Representative Barry Hovis, sponsor of House Bill 148, told the House Committee on Local Government that the bill would permit reorganized sewer-district trustees to receive a monthly stipend up to $100, aligning those districts with existing provisions for water districts.
The measure matters to small communities, Hovis said, because volunteer boards sometimes struggle to recruit members for work on large projects. "We can't anybody to run for the board," Hovis said, describing a Fruitland sewer district director who told him the board paid no trustees. The bill would make compensation options consistent across three types of districts, Hovis said.
The bill would not require districts to pay trustees; it would allow boards the option of paying trustees up to $100 per month. Hovis said current statutes differ: reorganized sewer districts have been left out of later statutory updates that allowed $50 or $100 in other district types. He also noted the bill includes an exemption requested by Little Blue Valley Sewer District for a Kansas City–area district whose board members (mayors and other officials) cannot accept compensation.
Trent Ford, a registered lobbyist with the Missouri Association of Sewer Districts, testified in support and described the bill as a long-running, noncontroversial effort. "We've been trying this for several years," Ford said, adding that the $100 maximum would cover modest expenses like gas or meals for trustees who travel to meetings.
Chris Ropey, representing Little Blue Valley Sewer District, also supported the bill and described the district’s operational arrangement and the negotiated exemption for its board.
Committee members asked how many districts would be affected and who decides what is "reasonable" compensation. Hovis and supporters said water districts already have a $100 cap and that the bill would simply make the statutory language consistent for sewer and reorganized sewer districts. Witnesses acknowledged that day‑to‑day checks-and-balances for reimbursements vary by district; one committee member said boards often cannot vote to raise their own pay because the change takes effect with the next board.
No vote was recorded during the hearing; sponsors and supporters closed the public testimony and the committee moved to the next bill.
Ending: The committee held the public hearing on House Bill 148; no committee vote was recorded during the session.
