Lebanon City Council plans town hall meeting on April use tax election

The Lebanon City Council discussed plans for informing the public about the upcoming use tax vote on April 8 at a work session Monday night. The city is planning a Proposition U town hall meeting for 6 p.m. March 18 in the City Council chambers at City Hall. City Communications Manger Derek Gean said a presentation about the tax is available on the city website at www.lebanonmissouri.org/PropositionU. “It has information about the tax, what a use tax is, how it works, frequently asked questions and a video,” he said. Gean also showed a video presentation about the proposal. According to the video, a use tax is not a new tax. It applies only to online and out-of-state purchases when sales tax is not collected. Funds would be used for a Fire and Police Training Facility, constructing a new Animal Shelter and assisting with improvements to the Boswell Aquatic Center. During its regular business meeting, the Council approved the purchase of eight bunker gear sets for the fire department from Banner Fire Equipment for $37,464 through a cooperative contract. Fire Chief Sam Schneider said the FireDex brand was selected in a department-wide survey of bunker gear. Schneider said the Fire Department wanted to purchase eight sets of bunker gear in 2025. For more on this story, see Wednesday's LCR.