County Commission prepares to place online sales tax on April ballot

The Laclede County Commission plans to ask voters in April on whether to approve an online sales tax. The online sales tax would be a ½ cent general revenue, ½ county development and 3/16 dedicated 911 tax, the same as the existing sales tax, Presiding Commissioner Randy Angst explained. Angst went on to note such a tax was initially considered in 2020 but pulled due to pandemic complications. He cited the increase of online shopping as opposed to shopping locally as well as the ever-present need to fund the maintenance of roads and bridges as well as public safety services and other general county business. “The county is doing good things with the monies we have available, but we know that with sales tax flatlining, what we’ve witnessed over the last, probably, six months to a year, and with our first receipt of sales tax for 2025, we see those numbers stagnating, actually going down,” Angst said. For more on this story, see Wednesday's LCR.