MARIES COUNTY — Some Maries County telephone customers continue to be charged an old 911 surcharge despite voters approving a new sales tax intended to replace the previous funding system.

Maries County Commissioner Vic Stratman alerted members of the Maries County Emergency Services Board (MCESB) during their Aug. 27 meeting, saying voters were told the telephone-based charges would go away if the countywide sales tax was approved.

“When we ran this in November by the citizens of Maries County, we promised them that those landline charges would go away,” Stratman said. “And we’re having trouble getting that done.”

Voters approved a one-cent sales tax in November 2025 to fund 911 services and establish an Emergency Services Board separate from the county. The state began collecting the tax in May.

Stratman said the county treasurer, Angie Pasley, has been working to stop the previous charges but has encountered difficulty getting some companies to respond.

“There’s about 15 entities that are charging that…well at one time were charging,” Stratman said. “She’s got some of them resolved, but I don’t think she’s got even half of them to respond to her.”

The board discussed using its newly retained legal counsel to assist with the issue.

The attorney, Frank Flaspoler with EMS Legal Services, told Stratman the problem was not unique and said the companies should not be collecting both funding sources.

“Anytime you’re dealing with AT&T, there’s never anything that’s easy,” he said. “So I would say that that is certainly an issue that other folks have had, and I would be happy to try and work with you to help address that because we should not be, they should not be collecting both of those because that’s not what the voters [approved].”

Board Chair Bonnie Prigge said she planned to connect the attorney with Pasley so he could provide guidance if companies continued failing to respond.

Prigge said the attorney may also be able to identify the proper contacts at individual companies or provide a standard letter demanding that the charges stop.

“If there’s a trick, or if you have any connections on who the appropriate person might be to contact, or even if you have a standard letter that you might be able to send on our behalf, basically saying cease, quit collecting, or whatever,” Prigge said. “We would appreciate that guidance.”

“We’re still getting some of the surcharge things, but Angie’s sending them to you guys when we get them,” Stratman said. “So, I mean, they should, in my mind, they should be going away.”