The Fulton City Council is easing into the new year with a short agenda for its first meeting of 2020.
Council members will convene at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday for a work session on the proposed use tax, followed by the regular meeting. Both will take place at Fulton City Hall, 18 E. Fourth St., and are open to the public.
During the work session, council members will discuss strategies around educating voters on a proposed use tax. The ballot measure, passed in October, will appear on the April 7 ballot.
A use tax is a self-reported tax placed upon out-of-state purchases - mainly over the internet.
If passed, it would add a 2.5 percent tax to purchases made out of state by Fulton residents. Missouri and Callaway County already have use taxes in place, at 4.225 percent and 1 percent, respectively. Up to $2,000 in purchases per person per year would be exempt, according to the ballot language.
Fulton voters rejected a similar tax in 2018, and council members have been eager to educate voters before the next election comes.
"We need to make a concerted effort to get information out to voters about what this means," Ward 1 council member Ballard Simmons said back in October.
In other business, the council will consider a resolution related to a litigation settlement with Daniel Nash, owner of a duplex at 212 and 214 E. Sixth St. The settlement will authorize the mayor to convey the property to River Valley Properties.
After a series of nuisance reports at the house and a civil court battle, Judge Jeff Harris gave Nash until Jan. 1 to either abate the nuisances or vacate the structure, along with any other occupants of the house. If he failed to do so, the Fulton Police Department could arrest him and the city could seize the property. For more background on the case, see bit.ly/3a6L3p0.
According to business filings, River Valley Property's registered agent is Kent Glover, who is also a registered agent for Glovecon - the contractor business neighboring the duplex.