The Parkville Board of Aldermen was scheduled to give final approval to a law enforcement sales tax this week, placing it on the April election ballot.
The half-cent sales tax was on the Tuesday, Dec. 6 meeting agenda, though the meeting itself occurred after press time. The tax funds would go toward funding police positions, salaries and benefits and other public safety expenditures, including police equipment, supplies and capital goods, such as police vehicles and related equipment for police operations. These are restricted funds that may be used only for public safety related purposes.
Ballot language reads: “Shall the City of Parkville impose a citywide sales tax of one-half of one percent for the purpose of improving the public safety of the City, including but not limited to, police positions, salaries and benefits, and related expenditures on police facilities and equipment?”
The sales tax is one of two proposals set to go on the Tuesday, April 4, 2023 municipal election ballot. A use tax on out of state purchases was also on the agenda.
The city currently levies local sales taxes at the rate of 2%. A local use tax requires the same tax rate to be charged on purchases made from businesses located outside Missouri as charged by businesses located in the city, eliminating an inequity between in-state and out-of-state businesses that provides a competitive advantage for out-of-state businesses.
Using other like-sized cities as a comparison, the city expects the use tax to generate $250,000-$300,000 per year. These funds would be used in the immediate future to pay for the continuing Highway 9 reconstruction project as well as the installation of sidewalks on Bell Road.
More than 200 Missouri cities have enacted a use tax through a vote by their residents. Platte County imposes a use tax, as does Kansas City, Platte City and other Northland communities.
Proposed ballot language reads: “Shall the City of Parkville, Missouri impose a local use tax (a sales tax on purchases made from out-of-state sellers by in-state buyers and on certain intra-business transactions) at the same rate as the total local sales tax rate, for the purpose of funding infrastructure and capital improvements within the City, provided that if the local sales tax rate is reduced or raised by voter approval, the local use tax rate shall also be reduced or raised by the same action?”