Voters approved establishing a sales tax for one Jefferson County fire district, while measures seeking sales tax increases failed for seven county ambulance and fire districts.
On April 7, Saline Valley Fire Protection District voters approved establishing a 1 percent sales tax with 893 “yes” votes (55.78 percent) to 708 “no” votes (44.22 percent).
However, voters rejected a half-cent sales tax increase for the Big River, Joachim-Plattin, North Jefferson County and Valle ambulance districts and Antonia, High Ridge and Rock Community fire districts.
“If I had to use one word, I would say humbled,” Saline Valley Chief Bob Dunn said of the approval of the district’s sales tax. “We were in shock. It is a good thing, and everybody is happy. Seeing the results of everybody else, it was like, ‘wow.’”
Most ambulance districts labeled the tax measure Proposition EMS, but Valle Ambulance called its measure Proposition Property Tax Relief. The fire districts’ measures were called Proposition Fire.
Previously, ambulance and fire districts were not allowed to collect more than a half-cent sales tax in certain Missouri counties. However last August, the state Legislature passed a bill to allow ambulance and fire districts in all counties to collect up to a 1-cent sales tax, with voter approval.
While the state now allows ambulance and fire districts to collect more sales tax revenue, it also requires those entities to reduce the amount of property tax they collect by half of the amount of sales tax collected in the prior calendar year.
Saline Valley
Dunn said the district anticipates collecting more than $1 million in revenue from the sales tax, which will reduce property tax Saline Valley collects by about $500,000.
The property tax rollback will not start until after a year of sales tax collections, meaning the property tax reductions will not occur until 2027 taxes are due.
The district’s current property tax levy is $1.38 per $100 assessed valuation. Dunn said Saline Valley collected $5,532,717.93 in property tax revenue last year.
“The biggest thing I heard is it made sense that since we don’t currently have a sales tax that it will save them (residents) approximately 13 cents per $100 of assessed valuation on their property,” Dunn said. “For us, that is a pretty significant decrease.”
Saline Valley covers approximately 19 square miles in portions of unincorporated Fenton, Arnold, Imperial, High Ridge and House Springs.
No increases
The seven ambulance and fire districts that did not receive sales tax increases already collect a half-cent sales tax that was previously allowed. Antonia, Big River, Joachim-Plattin, North Jefferson County, Rock Community and Valle officials said it was too early to say if their districts will seek the measure again.
“Nobody wants taxes, and we don’t want to ask for them, if we don’t have to,” Valle Chief Jesse Barton said. “The only reason we did it is because we have reached the point where they (the Legislature) enabled us to ask for the additional half-cent to increase our funding. It would have helped us deal with some issues and increased number of responses.”
Big River’s proposition received 1,065 “no” votes (57.23 percent) and 796 “yes” votes (42.77 percent). If voters approved raising the sales tax, Big River anticipated collecting an estimated $1.8 million in sales tax revenue.
“It was disappointing,” Big River Chief Scott Fischer said. “That money was going to be used to staff a fourth ambulance, which at this time we will not be able to do.”
Big River covers approximately 125 square miles, including Byrnesville, Cedar Hill, Dittmer, Morse Mill, Hillsboro, part of House Springs and Grubville.
Joachim-Plattin voters turned down the tax increase with 3,034 “no” votes (52.2 percent) to 2,778 “yes” votes (47.8 percent). The district anticipated collecting about $8.8 million in sales tax revenue if the measure was approved.
Joachim-Plattin covers approximately 180 square miles and includes Pevely, Herculaneum, Crystal City, Festus, the R7 area and portions of Barnhart, Hematite, Mapaville, Hillsboro and De Soto.
“Going forward, we will reevaluate where we are,” Joachim-Plattin Chief Tracy Howell said. “We will still run calls. We are still taking care of the community.”
North Jefferson County voters rejected the sales tax increase with 1,288 “no” votes (54.76 percent) to 1,064 “yes” votes (45.24 percent). The district anticipated collecting about $3.9 million in sales tax revenue if the measure was approved.
North Jefferson County Ambulance covers Byrnes Mill, High Ridge, part of House Springs and the Jefferson County portions of Eureka and Fenton.
“We will regroup and look at our long-term planning again and see what our path will be to make sure we are secure for 15 to 20 years plus,” North Jefferson County Chief Jamie Guinn said. Valle voters turned down the sales tax increase with 1,597 “no” votes (52.95 percent) to 1,419 “yes” votes (47.05 percent). If voters approved raising the sales tax, the district anticipated collecting an estimated $3,253,132.88 in sales tax revenue.
Valle covers approximately 233 square miles, including De Soto, Hills-boro, Victoria, Grandview, Hematite, Goldman and other parts of unincorporated Jefferson County.
“We are disappointed, but we respect the voters’ desires,” Barton said. “It doesn’t change that the need is still there. I don’t know how we are going to address that situation.”
Antonia Fire voters rejected the half-cent sales tax increase with 847 “no” votes (52.48 percent) to 767 (47.52 percent). If voters had approved raising the sales tax, the district anticipated collecting an estimated $1 million in sales tax revenue.
Antonia Fire’s coverage area is 36 square miles and includes Barnhart, Otto and portions of Imperial and House Springs.
High Ridge voters did not approve the sales tax increase with 1,491 “no” votes (54.4 percent) to 1,250 “yes” votes (46.6 percent). If voters had approved raising the sales tax, the district anticipated collecting an estimated $5.2 million in sales tax revenue.
High Ridge covers 52 square miles in northern Jefferson County, including High Ridge, Murphy, Byrnes Mill and a large portion of House Springs, along with the parts of Fenton and Eureka inside Jefferson County. It also includes the villages of Parkdale and Peaceful Village.
Rock Community voters turned down the sales tax increase with 3,011 “no” votes (54.08 percent) to 2,557 “yes” votes (45.94 percent). If voters had approved raising the sales tax, the district anticipated collecting an estimated $10 million in sales tax revenue.
Rock Community covers approximately 38 square miles in Arnold and Kimmswick and portions of Imperial and Barnhart.
