02-08-2025
Neosho, Newton County, put use taxes on Aug 5 ballot
NEOSHO, Mo. — Voters in Neosho and Newton County will head to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to approve use taxes in their respective jurisdictions.
A use tax is a tax placed on purchases online from companies that do not have a physical presence in Missouri.
The rates would be the same as the existing sales taxes in those areas, 1.65% in Newton County and 3% in the city limits of Neosho.
The ballot language on both questions, listed as Newton County Proposition A and City of Neosho Proposition A, call the use tax an 'attempt to eliminate the unfair advantage enjoyed by out-of-state vendors over local vendors.'
The state of Missouri already charges a use tax on purchases at 4.225%, the same as the state sales tax. Joplin residents in Newton County have been paying a use tax rate of 3.125% since 2023. Voters approved it in the November 2022 election.
Newton County Sheriff Matt Stewart said the county use tax will be used mostly to fund moving sheriff's deputies and other county employees to the Missouri Local Government Employees Retirement System, or LAGERS, which offers better retirement benefits for county employees than the current system, known as the County Employee Retirement Fund.
'You know, it's OK but it's not the best,' Stewart said. 'And we want to be able to make sure we're offering a better retirement plan so that whenever deputies are done with serving their community they're able to retire comfortably. We want to make sure we're attracting the best employees we can get and we want to make sure we're retaining that talent, that professionalism by offering them this LAGERS plan.'
Stewart said the sheriff's office has seen high turnover in the past few years and many are leaving for either better pay or better benefits.
'We want to make sure we can try to address that benefits issue and offer them the best benefits package possible,' Stewart said. 'The use tax will primarily cover the move to the LAGERS plan and depending on the revenue it could also help pay for some other benefits like health insurance or things like that to help ease that burden on our employees. It can also be used to provide better pay if the money is available.'
In Neosho, Fire Chief Aaron Houk is leading the campaign for the city use tax.
Neosho voters rejected a use tax in April 2025 on a vote of 570 to 603. At that time, Neosho City Manager David Kennedy had estimated the tax would bring in $300,000 to $400,000 annually based on state estimates, and the revenue was to be used to build a water park to replace Neosho's aging swimming pool.
Houk said feedback from that election indicated voters didn't like the idea of the tax going to the water park so city has decided to put the money, if passed, toward improved salaries and benefits for police officers and firefighters and to make improvements to roads and bridges.
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