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JEFFERSON CITY, MO -- A decision by the Blair Oaks school board not to okay a re-imbursement of misdirected tax dollars cut delay payments owed to the City of Jefferson.

The city council gathered Wednesday evening for a special meeting to vote on the next step, which could send them to court.

The vote is in and the Cole County Commission has only until 3 p.m. Thursday to resolve the surtax problem or the City will take them to court to get the money owed to them.

"Since everyone didn't sign the agreement, since we are running up to the deadline for filing, and we're going to loose a year to statue limitation, that the court might be our best option," Second Ward Councilman Rich Koon said.

Under the statute of limitations for collecting back taxes and special rules for recovering that money from another governmental body, city officials believe they can get the misdirected tax money from the past five years, not three.

"There is a very similar case, not exactly on surtax, but very similar where another governmental entity was trying to collect money back from the government. The court said five years on that one, so that's what we're going to hang our hat on,” City Counselor Nathan Nickolaus said.

Nickolaus said the settlement first agreed to with the county was nearly $750,000.

But if the case goes to court, the city will seek nearly double that amount.

"It certainly puts pressure on the county to settle, because in my estaments the county is looking at a situation where we can collect 5 years back from them, but they will only be able to go on the other side and get 3 years,” Nickolaus said.

City officials said the county commission will be liable for the debt to the city, regardless of whether it can collect overpaid taxes from the Blair Oaks School District.

The county commission will take up the surtax matter Thursday morning.