Category Archives: Missouri economy

Business broker Barbara Taylor speaks out

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Harry Styron

Barbara Taylor and her husband Chris are the founders of Synergy Business Services, a business brokerage company.  She’s a regular blogger on “You’re the Boss,” a feature of the New York Times’s Small Business section, which is where I discovered her. Then I learned that she lives and works in Northwest Arkansas.

I posed several questions to her:

1.  At what stage-if at all–should you ask for a lawyer’s assistance in purchasing a business?

I see some clients – most of whom are sellers – get an attorney involved as soon as an offer to purchase is presented by a buyer, which is typically done in the form of a non-binding Letter of Intent or Term Sheet. However, I’d say it becomes mandatory to get attorneys involved as soon the LOI has been signed and both parties have moved into the Due Diligence phase of a deal.

More often than not it’s the buyer’s attorney who will be drafting the Definitive Agreement (either an Asset or Stock Purchase Agreement, depending on the situation). As a buyer, you will more than likely want your attorney to help you draft an LOI to present to the seller. Once an offer is accepted, ask your attorney to start drafting the Definitive Agreement right away.

If you’re a a seller, I recommend that you send the first draft of the Definitive Agreement to your attorney immediately, and keep him or her involved throughout the remainder of the ownership transfer process (from Due Diligence through Closing). In my opinion, no one should buy or sell a business without counsel from a qualified attorney and a CPA.

2.   How can you tell if a lawyer has the right temperament and skills to be helpful in a business transaction? Read the rest of this entry →

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It really is all that bad. So what.

Posted on January 6, 2010 by Harry Styron

After posting a long piece about the grim economic outlook on January 3, I’ve had pangs of regret about the tone of it.

While there aren’t many signs of growth, our basic social and economic institutions are still functioning. Though unemployment rates are high, 9o% of the workforce is employed. The vast majority of people are current on their mortgages and credit cards. Businesses, schools, hospitals and churches are still open.

Most businesses that have been around for five years or more will weather the storm. They’ve weathered others.

Dianne Elizabeth Osis, publisher of the Springfield Business Journal, speaking for her staff, wrote Read the rest of this entry →

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Ozarks economic outlook for 2010

Posted on January 3, 2010 by Harry Styron

As with any identifiable region, the Ozarks’ economy is a partly a product of adjacent economies interacting with internal and external forces. A survey of the metro areas that ring the Ozarks may give us a hint about what to expect for the future. The economic engines within the Ozarks also deserve a look. This long essay will yield the conclusion that 2009 will be a year of Read the rest of this entry →

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Variance for cell tower pokes a hole in Columbia’s height ordinance

Posted on December 22, 2009 by Harry Styron

Boards of adjustment can grant variances from zoning ordinances. But why should they?

What purpose is served by a government agency playing favorites?

The Missouri court of appeals affirmed the Columbia board of adjustment’s decision to allow Sprint to erect a 95-foot cell tower, disguised as a flagless pole, in a zoning district where structures taller than 41 feet were prohibited.

The court’s decision, The Highlands Homes Association v. Board of Adjustment, dated December 22, 2009, Read the rest of this entry →

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Charity to animals is basis for property tax exemption

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Harry Styron

Property taxes in Missouri and most states apply to all property that isn’t exempted by a provision of the state constitution or statutes. The exemptions from Missouri real estate taxes are listed in section 137.100 of the Revised Statutes of Missouri, which includes government property and

All property, real and personal, actually and regularly used exclusively for religious worship, for schools and colleges, or for purposes purely charitable and not held for private or corporate profit….

Note that the exemption is based on use not ownership.

A recent opinion of the Missouri court of appeals, M’Shoogy Animal Rescue v. Andrew County Assessor, reversed the determination of the State Tax Commission, which had indicated that rescue and medical treatment of  animals was not the kind of charitable use that would exempt a facility from property tax.

The Andrew County assessor and board of equalization and the State Tax Commission all argued that Missouri law had never allowed property tax exemptions for facilities devoted to charitable activities other than those charities that help humans.

Indeed, the court of appeals had to turn to cases from other states, many of which had reasoned that humans benefit from charity to animals, to find precedents for recognizing charity to animals as an activity benefiting humans, thereby justifying a charitable tax exemption.

Is this legislation from the bench? If so, should we agree with it?

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It’s time: HOA budgets for 2010

Posted on October 25, 2009 by Harry Styron

Homeowner associations (HOAs) generally have fiscal years that correspond to calendar years, which means that it’s time for HOA boards to begin work on their 2010 budgets, so that the new budget–which establishes the HOA board’s authority to collect assessments and spend money–is in place before the start of 2010.

Missouri HOAs, other than condominium owners associations (COAs), don’t have any special statutes to follow. Instead, they are governed by corporation statutes and by their recorded covenants and by their bylaws, which are often not recorded.

Here’s an overview of the sources of general and financial powers of HOAs and COAs: Read the rest of this entry →

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The long arm of the law doesn’t always reach a guarantor

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Harry Styron

The United States is a fairly friendly and respectful federation, at least when it comes to enforcing judgments so that creditors can get paid. This arrangement encourages commerce.

If a lender gets a judgment in one state, that judgment can be registered with the court of another state, and the lender can use the local court and sheriff to apply the tools of debt collection: garnishment of bank accounts and accounts receivable and asking the sheriff to seize and sell the debtor’s property.

If the judgment from the other state is not premised on personal jurisdiction over the out-of-state defendant, then the court where the defendant or his property is located may not Read the rest of this entry →

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The greatest E. coli risk at Lake of the Ozarks may not be from the water

Posted on October 3, 2009 by Harry Styron

Undies are in bunches in Jeff City.  Gov. Nixon is embarrassed that his lawyer-laden government has been caught not protecting the public from health risks of E. coli, a family of bacteria whose presence in water is a marker of fecal contamination from human and animal sources. Department of Natural Resources officials, and perhaps the governor, judged that the political risk of stating that the lake water was polluted apparently outweighed the public health risk of water contact, at least until after Memorial Day weekend.

The blame game is in full swing, but nobody is explaining Read the rest of this entry →

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Posted in Missouri, Missouri economy, Ozarks, Ozarks economy, tourism, water law (streams, lakes and groundwater) and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Default judgments: sometimes they stick

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Harry Styron

A September 25, 2009 decision of the Missouri Court of Appeals’ Southern District, First Community Bank v Hubbell Power Systems, underscores that the trial judge doesn’t have to set aside a default judgment, even if it’s promptly requested, and even though Missouri’s court rules and case law disfavor default judgments in favor of giving the litigants their days in court.

When a civil lawsuit is filed in a Missouri’s circuit court and the defendant is served with a summons and copy of the plaintiff’s petition, the defendant has 30 days to file a response. If the defendant does not file a response, Read the rest of this entry →

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The Tri-State Mining District continues, producing poultry, not lead and zinc

Posted on September 20, 2009 by Harry Styron

The Tri-State Mining District, comprising adjacent portions of Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, is generally thought to be out of business, other than for its massive legacy of environmental damage, notably the Tar Creek Superfund site, but also involving water and soil contamination in several counties in all three states.

But mining continues with no royalties being paid. The mineral is groundwater, exported not as “pigs” of lead, but as chickens and eggs. A major portion of the groundwater drawn from the Ozark aquifer in several Southwest Missouri counties is used for Read the rest of this entry →

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