Town hall scheduled to support Jackson use tax

On Nov. 2, the City of Jackson is making a fourth attempt since 2014 to convince residents to pass an online sales levy — or use tax — and is inviting residents to a town hall meeting at the Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce's new office at 1846 E. Jackson Blvd. at 6 p.m. Thursday to plead the municipality's case.

The chamber now occupies the former First Missouri State Bank location.

Previous referenda have failed in Jackson with voters turning down use-tax plebiscites in 2014, 2016 and 2019.

Mayor Dwain Hahs gave a concrete example of the tax's potential impact to the Board of Aldermen during Monday's study session.

Hahs held up a $10 canister of hand wipes and said if the item was purchased online and the city's internet tax was in effect, the city would derive 25 cents from the purchase.

The city said it will use the $500,000 in estimated annual revenue generated through internet sales for its parks are recreation program.

"An internet sales tax is not a double tax," said Hahs, reminding residents the use levy will be at the same rate as the current city sales tax.

Other notes

• Aldermen viewed a PowerPoint presentation about the city's historic architectural survey funded via a $15,000 grant from the National Parks Service.
• A $9,500 expenditure was approved by city aldermen to Farmington, Missouri's Cochran Engineering related to providing engineering services for the West Mary Street bridge water and sewer line relocation project.