City, AT&T Missouri reach receipts tax settlement

The city of Springfield has reached an out-of-court settlement with AT&T Missouri, marking the last in a series of settlements regarding the city's business license gross-receipts tax.

Under the settlement, signed Tuesday, AT&T Missouri - formerly Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. - will pay the city $7.45 million in back taxes, along with attorney fees associated with the settlement.

AT&T Missouri has been paying gross-receipts tax on its landline operations, according to a city news release, but the company now will pay additional taxes because the taxable base is greater than it has been paying on.

The settlement is the result of a lawsuit the city filed in U.S. District Court in Jefferson City in May 2004, naming AT&T, Sprint, Alltel, Cingular - now called AT&T Mobility - and Nextel as defendants.

Springfield City Council authorized City Manager Greg Burris to pursue the final negotiation during a Dec. 23 closed meeting, at which council also expressed its intent to apply the settlement money to the Police and Fire Pension Fund. Council will consider a formal action to put the settlement money in the pension fund at its Jan. 26 meeting.

"I am confident the City Council will fulfill its pledge to voters to put these proceeds into the fund," Mayor Jim O'Neal said in the release. "I am very pleased to reach this settlement with AT&T Missouri and successfully conclude the last of these lawsuits over the back taxes owed to the City."

With this settlement, the city has netted $25.1 million from the telecommunications companies, applying $24.1 million to the pension fund. The remaining money was used in 2007 to settle a firefighter overtime issue and to pay down city debt service.[[In-content Ad]]