Sales Tax Coffee Talk

By: Ernie Wren
The leadership for City of Ashland hosted a “Sales Tax Coffee Talk” for residents at the local McDonalds this past Friday morning and the event went well. There was discussion between residents, Mayor Dorise Slinker, City Administrator Kyle Michel, Ashland Police Department’s (APD) Chief Gabe Edwards, and Public Works Director James Creel. The topic of the meeting was the proposed sales tax increase on April’s municipal ballot which reads, “Shall the municipality of Ashland, Missouri, impose an additional city sales tax of one percent (1.0%) for the purpose of funding the street department and police department with no less than 40% of the annual tax revenue going to funding the street department and not less than 40% of the annual tax revenue going to funding the police department: and if this sales tax is approved by the voters, then the next occurring property tax levy for the City of Ashland shall be at least 25% less than the property tax rate in place at the time this sales tax is approved.”
I was able to ask several questions to the city leadership group on behalf of the Boone County Journal:

• With the defeat of the online sales tax proposal last year by the city, in what ways is this proposal different?

For more “Sales Tax Coffee Talk” read this week’s Boone County Journal….