Callaway County residents will vote on the continuation of a sales tax on the titling of motor vehicles for the Callaway County Ambulance District on Aug. 2.
In 2012, Missouri's Supreme Court ruled sales taxes could not be collected on vehicles purchased out of state. After that ruling, the Legislature passed a bill approved by the governor allowing the ambulance district to collect a sales tax on out-of-state purchases until 2016.
"It's not a new tax," Callaway County EMS Director Charles Anderson said. "We already have a sales tax in place, and this is letting us continue to collect it on the out-of-state motor vehicles that are purchased and titled in Callaway County."
If the measure fails on Aug. 2, Anderson said the district could lose $60,000 each year.
"That is pretty significant for us, because that amount of money can be used to cover wages and benefits for one paramedic or two EMTs," he said.
The city of Fulton is also looking to pass a similar measure for residents on the same day. The city will be referring to it as a use tax.
"It's not a new tax," Fulton Mayor LeRoy Benton said. "Right now, if you want an automobile from a local or out-of-state dealer, you have to license it and pay our local tax. All the city is trying to do is maintain its revenue stream at the level it has been up to this point."
Benton said the measure is on the August ballot in order to make a deadline set by the state.
"They originally had given us until November to get it accomplished," he said. "So we're putting it on this ballot, in case if it didn't pass, we can do it in November."