08-03-2025
Joplin City Council to get report on projects funded with use-tax revenue
Nearly a third of the projects that are to be done with use-tax revenue have been completed by the city of Joplin.
A presentation on the status of the 45 action plan programs and initiatives that are funded or partly funded by that tax will be given Monday at a work session of the City Council.
Members of the Action Plan and Implementation Oversight Committee have been meeting since January 2022 after voters approved collection of the use tax in November 2021. That group, led by former Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce President Rob O'Brian and City Manager Nick Edwards, has given input into the projects, asked questions and made suggestions for them, as well as monitoring the progress.
The presentation Monday will provide residents with information on how much the use tax has collected and how it has been disbursed among the various city sales tax funds so that some portion of it goes into many city projects and needs. It has even contributed to hiring of some additional positions so that there are more city workers to carry out the action plans as well as regular city functions.
Since collection of the tax started in early 2022, it has brought more than $17 million into city coffers that went toward things such as hiring and equipping park rangers, adding positions and contributing to equipment purchases for police and fire departments and to neighborhood improvements.
Residents will be provided with information about things such as the effort to clear deteriorated houses and the construction of replacements, a home repair program that has paid for some exterior home repairs in several income-restricted neighborhoods, and the future commitments for spending that are aimed at overall improvements across the city and its services.
Future projects also will be discussed.
The creation of programs and projects to bring improvements started with a listening tour conducted by the city manager in 2020, in which residents expressed concerns about declining neighborhood conditions and housing, homelessness, economic development needs, traffic congestion and quality of life.
A City Council retreat later that year resulted in the council adopting a strategic plan with specific goals set. Those are to improve community appearance, address declining neighborhoods, increase economic opportunities, address homelessness, reduce crime and increase safety, and create and grow resilient revenue.
Use-tax funds have helped finance work on those goals. Some city American Rescue Plan Act grant funding also has been used for those purposes, the city manager told the oversight committee at a meeting Wednesday.
The council meeting starts at 5:45 p.m. Monday on the fifth floor of City Hall, 602 S. Main St.
