Fist elected in 1986, Richardet will retire at the end of his term, in 2023. Richardet said he has been grateful for the opportunity to serve. “I have given Perry County the best 36 years of my life, and I feel it is now time to slow down,” he said. “I have been through a lot of technology changes, tax calculations, collection and reconciliation of over $20 million annually.”
The collector’s office processes and mails more than 23,000 tax bills annually. Along with this, the job includes balancing and reconciling hundreds of court orders, additions, tax sales, delinquent tax billing, as well as keeping up with the many changes in the laws and statues, “You can’t stand still, you have to keep moving forward when it makes sense,” he said. “We then distribute the amount of tax dollars that goes to each political subdivision for their operational needs each month.”
Richardet commends the citizens of Perry County for the current collection rate of 95 percent, which is recognized as one of the highest in the state. “We also have a delinquent collection rate of 99 percent,” he said. “We worked very hard to eventually collect on those delinquent taxes by whatever legal means that we can use.”
Richardet is looking forward to doing more traveling, including possibly taking train trips across the country. This is something he’s gained an interest in more recently. “It’s time to relax and enjoy the grandkids more,” he said.
Richardet says he plans to endorse deputy county collector Dena Preston for the county collector position in the August primary. “It has been an honor and a privilege to serve Perry County and watch Perry County grow and become probably one of the most progressive and most well planned counties in the state of Missouri,” he said.
Preston is running unopposed in August for the county collector position.