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Minutes for March 18, 1999

Group: Scenarios Committee of the Saline County Study

Date, Time, Place of Meeting:
Thursday March 18, 1999, 12:30 p.m.
Friends of Arrowrock Building

Saline County Study Members in Attendance: Kathy Borgman, Vinnie Burke, John Stouffer, Roy Hunter, Mark Belwood, Anna Cox and Cynthia Crawford

Committee members absent: Tom Johnson, Kathy Miller and Mubarak Hamed

The meeting was called to order by Kathy Borgman, chair.

Anna Cox will be taking Kathy Miller’s spot on the Scenarios Committee.

Use Tax Update

Commissioner John Stouffer reported that the Commissioners are making presentations several times each. Once people understand the tax, people are supportive. The tax is on retail goods only.

Anna Cox has talked with the County Auditor and presented a document to the Scenarios Committee on the impact of a Saline County use tax.

Effect of shopping patterns and the effect on Saline County . The baseline established earlier in the study is the starting point of the discussion. Shifts in shopping patterns indicate, overall in Missouri people are shifting purchases from instate to out of state. Key points:

• As more people and businesses use catalogs or other out of state purchasing methods local retail sales growth will be cut in half.
• Out of state taxable retail purchases almost doubled (7.9 % to 14.6%) as a percent of total retail sales in Missouri between fiscal year 1993 and fiscal year 1998.
• Some of the erosion of local retail sales may be offset by equalizing the tax rates between local and out of state taxable purchases.
• Declining sales tax revenues may result in a decreased ability for the county to provide services such as law enforcement.
• Saline County revenues could increase by over $100.000 a year with the implementation of a local use tax.
• The per capita cost to county residents of a local use tax would range from $5.07 to $13.11 per year.

Anna brought up the possibility of doing a study doing retail trade analysis. That would be helpful in industrial targeting

County Parks and Tourism

Vinnie highlighted the strengths that Saline County has in terms of natural resources and geographic location. A weekend of County Living. Need to market Saline County with a menu of activities. Must offer convenience. Selling memorable experiences, convenience and entertainment.

Plan of Action:

1. Provide feedback to Anna prior to Monday evening study meeting next week on the Use Tax document. Anna to present the report to the study group at the March meeting.
2. Anna to the feasibility of retail trade analysis by CPAC.
3. Develop the idea of "Weekend of Country Living" into a scenario as a next agenda item for the third year. Glenn Weaver may be a valuable resource.
4. Kathy Miller making the land values report reader friendly
5. Vinnie to follow up on getting County Parks report on the web site.
6. Nutrient assimilation report needs to be posted on the web site.

Next meeting Aprl 22, 12:30, Friends of Arrow Rock, Arrow Rock MO

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Last updated: October 13, 2000