Despite December sales tax distributions falling 3% below a year ago, reports from Barry County cities and county government entities showed widespread gains over 2023, though some reflected very small revenue increases.

Totals for 2024, compared to income before the COVID-19 pandemic surge in local shopping, show how sales and use tax now completely power local government operations.

Barry County receipts from the seven cities and the county government totaled $1,672,530.82 in December, including a new tax added in Monett. That compared to $1,707,193.04 a year ago. The seven Barry County cities collecting sales tax showed a 1% drop.

The 1% general fund taxes for Cassville (up $5,073.82), Purdy (up $29.23), and Wheaton (up $245.86) recorded the only gains. Drops included Monett (down $3,706.10 or 5%), Seligman (down $4,527.11), Washburn (down $870.50), and Exeter (down $5.23), all reflecting 1% collections going to general funds in those cities.

In Barry County, the countywide .5% taxes supporting general spending and road maintenance each brought in more than $236,080, each falling by at least $6,775 for the month. It was the third month in a row for lower returns. The separate tax for 911 and central dispatching yielded $177,047.02, a drop of $5,105.18 from last December.

Summary for 2024

In 2024, the seven Barry County cities, the county government, the Emergency Services Board, and the two ambulance districts operating in the county received $26,348,166.03, up nearly $1.4 million or 6%, collected from 36 different sales taxes and use taxes.

Total tax numbers

The following tax amounts reflect the total amount of tax collected by each city and county, in 2024, as compared to 2023:

• Cassville, which collected four taxes, took in a total of $3,334,254.58, up 4% or $133,087, with rises in 10 of the last 12 months. The city’s use tax gathered $298,687.16 in its first full year of collections. The use tax pushed overall totals to $3,632,941.74, a new record, up more than $1.3 million from before the pandemic five years ago.

• Exeter, with one tax, collected $34,426.92, up $6,675 over 2023, a 24% gain for the biggest percentage rise in both Lawrence and Barry counties. That’s a rise of nearly $13,000 in five years.

• Monett now has five active sales taxes and two sunsetted taxes still generating revenue in 2024. The seven taxes combined brought in $5,348,604.61, down nearly $250,000 from a year ago, up only three times in 2024. The shift appears not to be due to fewer sales, but a switch from sales tax to use tax on purchases made online, especially groceries at Walmart. The use tax, collected for a full year for the first time, added $861,998.59 to city coffers, going directly into the general fund. That gave Monett total tax collections of $6,210,603.20, up more than $260,000 or 4% for the year. That’s up nearly $1.7 million over five years ago.

• Purdy, with three taxes, collected $140,100.24, a gain of $384.75 over 2023. The sum represented two years of gains after two years of drops. Purdy’s totals have remained surprisingly steady, as the 2024 total was $1,011.81 higher than in 2019.

• Seligman, with its four sales taxes, generated $328,255.51, up nearly $9,000, or 3%, from a year ago. Add in the use tax, collected for a full year for the first time, brings the total to $387,223.55, a 6% gain over 2023. The use tax is largely responsible for boosting Seligman’s revenues by almost $130,000, or 28%, over pre-pandemic 2019.

• Washburn, with three taxes, produced $82,208.98, a 12% drop, or down more than $11,500 from 2023, after two years of big gains following the introduction of its Dollar General store. Washburn’s use tax, collected for a full year for the first time, added $34,023.27, bringing the total to $116,232.25. That topped 2023’s combined sum by more than $12,600, or 12%, despite receipts dropping eight times in 2024. Tax income has nearly doubled from five years ago.

• Wheaton produced $89,012.06 from its two sales taxes. Wheaton’s two taxes remain out of balance, as a half-cent transportation tax generated 45% of the onecent tax. Tax income has still grown by nearly $18,000 from five years ago. With the general fund down eight of 12 times, city coffers were looking at a 10% drop. However, Wheaton’s use tax, collected for the first full year, added another $12,376.37 to city coffers, boosting the total to $101,388.43, slightly over the 2023 sum.

• Barry County has three .5% taxes plus a .125% tax augmenting the general fund. Barry County’s two general fund sales taxes received $3,500,199.46, up nearly $34,000, or 1%, from 2023. Five years ago, general fund receipts approached $2.7 million. Barry County’s four taxes combined brought in $9,083,589.93, up almost $79,000 or less than 1% over 2023. Barry County’s use tax yielded an additional $2,061,700.51, with 25% of that going into law enforcement. The $11,145,290.44 sum was up almost $700,000, or almost 7% on the year. Five years ago, before the law enforcement and the use taxes, the county received a little more than $4.8 million in the year.

• Barry County E9-11 and central dispatching, supported by a .375% sales tax, garnered $2,100,094.52 for the year, up $7,378, or less than half a percent. Five years ago, the tax generated $1.6 million.

• South Barry County Ambulance District, south of Butterfield, reported receiving $1,183,450.91 for the year, up almost $79,000 or an increase of 7%.

• The Barry-Lawrence Ambulance District collected $1,296,413.83 from its half-cent sales tax collected from Freistatt to Purdy, down $42,663 or 3%, impacted mostly by Monett’s use tax which siphons revenues that previously went into multiple city sales taxes. Prior to switching to sales tax in 2019, the ambulance district serving Monett received around $330,000 in property