Voters reject Neosho use-tax proposal

NEOSHO, Mo. – Voters in Neosho reject a use-tax proposal.

The City was asking residents to vote on a local use tax at the same rate as the total sales tax of 3-percent. They narrowly voted it down.

CITY OF NEOSHO PROP A

Shall city impose a local use tax at the same rate as the total sales tax of 3%?

  • No Winner
    51.7%


    468

  • Yes  
    48.3%


    438

906
Last updated: April 7, 2021 12:15 PM 12:15 PM CDT

“In an attempt to eliminate the un-fair advantage enjoyed by out of state vendors over local vendors, the city of Neosho Missouri impose a local use tax at the same rate as the total sales tax, currently three percent (3%) provided that if the local sales tax rate is reduced or raised by the voter approval, the local use tax rate shall also be reduced or raised by the same action? Use tax shall not be required to be paid by those persons whose purchases from out-of-state vendors do not exceed in total more than two thousand dollars ($2,000.00) in any calendar year.”

Newton County to vote on ambulance district tax levy rate

NEWTON COUNTY, Mo. – Voters in Newton County, Missouri will head to the polls Tuesday, April 6 to vote on a new tax levy rate for the county’s ambulance district.

The current levy rate is not quite 19 cents per 100 dollars of assessed valuation. If approved, the new rate would be 35 cents. Officials with the ambulance district say the levy raise would help pay for new equipment and provide more competitive wages for the districts workers.

“Because of television and things a lot of people think we are part of the fire department,” said Newton County Ambulance Chief Rusty Tinney. “We’re a completely different entity. You know there are more fire trucks and police cars in this county than there are ambulances. Again we have six ambulances to cover the entire county.”

Nevada, MO voters will see two school bond proposals on the ballot

NEVADA, Mo. – On Tuesday, April 6, Nevada, Missouri voters will decide on two school bond proposals.

One, a nearly $14 million proposal, would fund repairs to several elementary schools and improvements at the high school football stadium. The second, a $12 million proposal would fund the construction of a new elementary school.

That new school would also be partially funded by a $10 million dollar donation.

Carl Junction to reintroduce use tax on April ballot

CARL JUNCTION, Mo. – The City of Carl Junction, Missouri is reintroducing a use tax on the April ballot.

If passed, it would tax online purchases at an equal amount to the city’s sales tax which is 3%. The measure failed in the 2020 election. City officials say it’s needed to fund improvements to city parks, sidewalks and streets.

“To generate a little bit more revenue for the city we have several protects that have been ongoing,” said Carl Junction City Administrator Steve Lawver. “Over several years we just don’t have the funds to complete, and we need to get those completed.”

Residents can learn more about the proposed use tax at a meeting Tuesday evening at 6:00 p.m. at Randy’s Drive-In. Municipal election day in Missouri is on April 6, 2021

Kansas to move to next vaccination phase in 4 weeks or less

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) – Kansas could finish immunizing seniors, meatpacking employees and other essential workers and move on to the next phase of coronavirus vaccinations by next month, top officials say.

Dr. Lee Norman, the head of the state health department, said in a webcast Tuesday with University of Kansas Health officials that he anticipated the state would begin the third phase of vaccinations in four weeks or “a little bit less.” The next phase includes people aged 16 to 64 with medical conditions that put them at severe risk if they are infected with COVID-19, including cancer and Type 2 diabetes, as well as workers in critical industries such as information technology and government.

He said some rural communities already have finished vaccinating people in the current phase, which is the state’s largest and includes about 1 million people, or about one-third of the state’s 2.9 million residents.

“They therefore are on pause as we call it for receiving additional vaccine allocation so that we can reallocate to the other counties that are still in phase 2 and moving in an orderly manner through phase 2,” Norman said. “As a state, it is good idea to not have some counties move to phase three, four, five while there are other counties still in phase 2.”

The second phase includes those over the age of 65, critical workers including firefighters, law enforcement officers, meatpacking employees, grocery store workers, teachers and child-care workers, as well as prisoners.

Gov. Laura Kelly said at a new mass vaccination site in a hard hit area of Kansas City, Kansas, that there was “no drop dead date” for moving to the next phase but that she anticipated it would happen at the beginning of April.

“That, of course, is all dependent on getting enough vaccines from the federal government to finish up phase two,” Kelly said after listening to several community leaders discuss challenges that must be overcome to fix racial vaccination disparities.

The rate of vaccinations among Kansas residents has been heavily skewed, with 121.75 out of every 1,000 white residents vaccinated, compared to 54.60 out of every 1,000 black residents and 78.83 out of every 1,000 Hispanic residents, state vaccination data shows.

“We certainly haven’t intentionally not vaccinated in communities of color and our vulnerable communities. In fact, part of the way we have been thinking about this is to look at our vulnerable communities,” Kelly said, adding that it was clear the state had not addressed the problem aggressively enough.

Kelly said one of the reasons that meatpacking workers were moved up on the priority list was to target “socially vulnerable communities.”

Teachers – another priority – have been vaccinated “for the most part,” with the exception of “a few second doses that need to go into people yet this month,” Norman said.

That’s led schools to gradually shift from virtual to in-person learning. The Board of Education in the Wichita district, which is the state’s largest with about 47,000 students, voted 6-0 Monday to allow middle and high school students to head back to class five days a week on March 29.

Elementary students already had been in-person five days a week. But older students are attending hybrid classes – at home part of the time and and in-person the rest of the time. The district will continue a virtual option, though.