Police and sheriff department officials are asking local voters to approve a use tax measure Tuesday they say would provide much needed funding not only for general city and county operations, but also for law enforcement.
The vote comes as Butler County Sheriff's Department already has begun layoffs in an attempt to balance a strained budget, according to county sheriff Mark Dobbs.
"We have not been replacing some positions as people left, but this is having to look someone in the face and tell them they do not have a job tomorrow," said Dobbs, who said the layoffs involve a communications officer and a deputy.
A use tax allows for the collection of sales tax on internet purchases in the same way a customer is taxed at a brick and mortar retailer within their community.
While the state of Missouri already collects this tax for itself, each city and county also has to pass its own measure.
"The main problem with us is that our quarter cent (law enforcement) tax is being circumvented by Internet purchases," said Dobbs. "We feel like that accounts for a couple hundred thousand dollars, just for our tax."
The area is growing and that means the need for services is growing exponentially, almost on a daily basis, said city police chief Danny Whiteley.
"To keep up with the times means being fully staffed and having the safety equipment needed for the officers, to effectively do the job and protect the public," Whiteley said.
The police department lost the equivalent of one officer's salary in December under city cost cutting efforts. A second police department job was saved when the city council decided to continue deficit spending, rather than trim other expenses.
Officials said at the time they hoped to see an improvement in sales tax collections in 2017.
Sales tax makes up about 45 percent of the general fund revenues, which pay for law enforcement, street department and other city services, according to Poplar Bluff officials.
"Right now, funds are very reliant on the sales tax as a source of income," said Stuart Haynes of the Missouri Municipal League, which tracks where the use tax has been passed across the state and how much collections could mean for each city. "More and more people are buying online, which means the source of revenue for parks and cities are going down.
"If they want to stabilize revenue, they need to pass a use tax
"It levels the playing field."
The use tax is imposed on purchases made from out-of-state vendors, MML says.
It is set at the same rate as local sales tax. This would be 1-cent for Butler County and 2.25 cents for Poplar Bluff.
Purchases cannot be taxed twice and products that would be exempt from sales tax will also be exempt from the use tax, the MML says.
A use tax is important not only for law enforcement, said Whiteley.
"(You're) not going to get support from Amazon for the Poplar Bluff football team or the Poplar Bluff basketball team or Three Rivers College. That comes from local merchants," Whiteley said. "It's important to the local economy, I believe."
A community can only be policed as much as it is willing to be, said Dobbs.
"You can only have as much law enforcement as that community will allow you to have," he continued. "I like to think Butler County is a growing county and it believes in the importance of it."
City officials think the use tax could generate an additional $200,000 or more in revenue.
The Butler County use tax would be equal to the following existing sales tax: .025-cent law enforcement tax; .025-cent road and bridge tax; and .05-cent general revenue tax.
The Poplar Bluff use tax would be comprised of the following existing sales tax: 1-cent general fund tax; .05-cent capital improvement tax; .05-cent sales tax to fund Highway 67 improvements; and a .025-cent park department tax.