The Jefferson County Council recently approved a $165,575,765 budget for 2026. That’s $14 million less than last year’s budget.
Jefferson County Executive Dennis Gannon said in a memo included with the budget that the cut in spending is mostly due to the costs of goods and services rising faster than the county’s revenues. The smaller budget ensures the county remains fiscally responsible, he said.
“(The 2026 budget) continues to provide the funding that is required to deliver essential services to the citizens of Jefferson County. However, due to our revenue trends in the general revenue fund and in sales tax collections, we must continue to be very conservative in our approach as we move forward,” Gannon said. “We must work to ensure that we have a healthy reserve fund and, at the same time, put measures in place that do not jeopardize or draw down reserve funds to levels that could negatively impact our future financial position.
“The continued loss from the non-collection of sales taxes on internet sales continues to be an ever-increasing burden on our budget and the budgets of other counties and municipalities in our state.”
An internet sales tax, also called a use tax, allows municipalities to charge their existing sales tax on internet purchases, just like people pay at brick-and-mortar businesses. Counties, cities and other entities that collect sales taxes must ask their voters to approve a use tax on internet purchases and other out-of-state sales equal to their sales tax rates.
Festus residents recently voted down an internet sales tax measure in November called Proposition P, with 69 percent opposed.
Gannon said, based on the election results and conversations with council members, the county does not plan to ask voters again to approve its own version of the internet sales tax. In 2018, the county asked voters to approve the internet sales use tax, and it failed with 68.6 percent voting against it.
“If I go out and buy a chair at whatever store sells chairs in Jefferson County, I would be paying sales tax at that business, whereas if I bought the same chair on the internet, I would not be,” Gannon said in a Jan. 2 interview. “I would like to see us have a fair playing field and would like to see (county voters) pass a tax on internet business, but unless the council is all in favor and believes in this, I can’t ask the voters to believe in it.
“Some of (the council members) are very clear they don’t want new taxes, no matter what way, shape or form.”
Revenue
According to the new budget, county officials expect to receive $51,613,354 in general revenue funds, which are used to pay for most of the county’s operations. That is a 7.6 percent decrease, or $4.2 million less, than last year’s general revenue funds. The county’s charter requires the council to approve a balanced budget, meaning the county’s anticipated spending must match estimated revenue, which also is projected at $165,575,765.
“As mentioned during the budget work session, anticipated revenues would have minimal growth, and we did ask each department to keep at or below the 2025 level,” Gannon said. “When increases were requested, we asked each requester to justify the need. In some cases, final decisions were not pleasing to the requester, but they did provide a balanced budget.”
Gannon said the county’s revenues are dependent on sales tax “generated from a strong economy.”
About 33 percent of the county’s general operations are funded through a 1/2-cent sales tax, as well as another 1/2-cent sales tax collected for law enforcement and a third 1/2-cent sales tax collected for road and bridge improvements. Combined, those sales taxes are expected to bring in more than $54 million for the county during the 2026 fiscal year.
County government is beginning to feel the effects of the real property tax credit, which became available to seniors 62 or older on March 1, 2025, and effectively “freezes” a senior’s real estate property tax liability at the time the senior applies for the credit. Certain factors may incrementally raise the property tax level, however.
County Administrator David Courtway said the county anticipated losing about $60,000 in property tax revenue in 2025 due to the credit.
However, the county could not provide the 2025 total revenue from real estate property taxes by the Leader deadline on Monday.
Collector Michelle Worth said her office received 14,335 applications for the credit from county seniors by the June 30, 2025, deadline for last year.
Seniors must reapply for the credit each year and may apply for the 2026 credit between March 1 and June 30.
County voters decided in the April 2, 2024, election to allow the county to collect an additional 3-cent tax on all recreational marijuana sales.
Courtway said the county received approximately $778,927 in recreational marijuana taxes in 2025. However, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that counties and cities are prohibited from “stacking” the recreational use taxes, meaning only one entity can collect the sales tax from a dispensary, not two or more.
“In total, and based on court decisions, the county realized approximately what we think would be less than $400,000 in revenue, once that stacking amount is backed out,” Courtway said. “The county auditor is working with the Department of Revenue to true-up those final numbers. Currently, we do not anticipate the non-stacked collections to drop. Once we have the true-up number, it will be easier to project. However, legislation or other government actions at the federal and state level could impact the trend.”
The council voted unanimously Dec. 18 to approve the budget; however, several council members commented that they’d like to see the budget adoption process change next year to increase transparency.
Councilman Billy Crow (District 2, Arnold) said he’d like to form a budget objectives committee to analyze the 2027 proposed budget.
Ideally, Crow said the council would be presented with the proposed budget earlier than the Nov. 1 deadline mandated in the county charter so the council has more time to pore over it and suggest changes.
He’d also like to organize quarterly meetings between the auditor and the council chair about budget preparations and to require council budget hearings to be held on two nights “to avoid rushing decisions or extending discussions late into the evening when fatigue can affect focus.”
“Some of these, I don’t know if they’re even possible, but these are hopes and aspirations,” Crow said.
He said similar commitments to change the budget process have been made in the past, yet little has changed.
“My goal in offering these suggestions is to strengthen transparency, understanding and accountability in the budgeting process for both the council and the public we serve,” he said.
As the chief budget officer, Gannon said he spends a great deal of time with department directors, beginning in August, going line by line in the proposed budget to ensure each department’s budget is balanced.
“It’s hard for me to understand how the County Council thinks they know what the Planning Department needs (for example) and what their budget should be,” Gannon said. “How does a part-time County Council member fully know or expect to be that deep into the budget? I don’t know how they should expect to know what that department needs, unless you work at it full-time in that department.”
The budget
The 2026 budget includes a 2.5 percent cost-of-living increase for approximately 571 of the county’s 667 total employees. The total county payroll will cost $43,102,134, with $854,558.87 dedicated to the cost-of-living increase.
Last year, the county provided most staff with a 5 percent raise, costing $1,609,812, for a total of $41,793,579 spent on payroll.
The county has allocated $25 million for road and bridge projects in the budget, with an estimated $18 million coming from the road and bridge sales tax funds and another $7.6 million available in federal grants.
According to the Public Works page on the county’s website, 2026 road and bridge projects include continued improvements to Old Lemay Ferry Road in Imperial and Antire Road in High Ridge, replacing the Boyce Lane low-water crossing south of Festus with a bridge and adding sidewalks, parking and lighting along Fifth Street in Kimmswick.
Public Works will implement Phase 1 of the Walk Bike Jefferson County Plan in 2026, which was approved by the council in February 2025. The Walk Bike Plan will be used to shape the county’s future walking and biking improvement projects.
According to department documents, Phase 1 includes enhancing pedestrian walkways on existing roadway shoulders, such as Old Hwy. 141, Vogel Road and Seckman Road.