City use tax fails, while Davis, Taylor, Smith secure PB council seats

Incumbent Steve Davis and newcomer Chris Taylor won the night Tuesday for two seats on the Poplar Bluff City Council as at-large members.

Voters also narrowly defeated a city use tax on internet purchases, 598-654.

Davis and Taylor won against seven other candidates, with 501 and 485 votes respectively. Both carried at least 19% of the 2,219 votes cast.

Steve Davis

Butler County saw an overall turnout of just over 10%, or 2,596 residents voting across all races. City turnout was slightly higher, at almost 16%.

Ward 5 representative Robert Smith was also re-elected, running unopposed.

Davis thanked his supporters for their help in securing another three years on the city council.

Chris Taylor

“I am still in shock, but I am excited to get to work for a better Poplar Bluff,” said Taylor said. “I would like to congratulate Steve Davis on his re-election and all the candidates that ran. It was a long road but we (Poplar Bluff) did it!”

Davis will serve his second term on the council.

“I’m looking forward to another three years and want to keep moving things forward,” said Davis, who spent much of his day at polling places.

While Davis awaited the results with friends and family at a nearby restaurant, Smith and many of the other at-large candidates gathered at Butler County Courthouse to await the results.

“I’m looking forward to getting some cooperation with the council,” said Smith after the announcement, adding the last two months have slowed the council down as it dealt with COVID-19 disruptions.

Smith says among his next tasks will be addressing street and sidewalk repairs in Ward 5.

Other at-large candidates received the following votes: Robert Duckett, 317; Chester L. Pumphrey, 21; Logan V. Gilham, 109; Jim Chrisman, 341; Peter Tinsley, 260; Brent Eason, 124; and Robert E. Durbin, 61.

Tinsley offered his congratulations to the winners.

“I think they’ll all do a good job,” he said.

Durbin and Gilham said they were disappointed with the outcome, with Durbin commenting he thought people were more upset over recent city decisions.

Both Davis and Smith are concerned about what the loss of the use tax proposal will mean for city revenues.

“It’s going to be tough. We’re going to have to make some concessions,” said Smith. “We’re going to have to look at where we can make cuts and trim the budget.”

Poplar Bluff is growing, and it will need to find ways to increase city revenue to keep up with that growth, said Davis.

“Or we’re going to lose services, or potentially have layoffs,” he said.

Smith was encouraged by the narrower margin of loss for the tax than some previous attempts.

The city has to continue to educate the public on what the tax is and how important it is, he said.

Among the city wards, Davis carried 1, 2 and 3. He received: 36 votes at Ward 1; 109 votes at Ward 2; and 42 votes at Ward 3. Taylor carried wards 4 and 5, with 206 and 65 votes each.

The use tax passed in wards 2 and 4, but failed in wards 1, 3 and 5. It saw support from 46.9% of voters.