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Licensed Collector outlines tax revenue breakdown, warns tornado will affect FY26 projections
Summary
Mavis Thompson, St. Louis City Licensed Collector, presented the office’s FY figures May 27, saying municipal, manufacturing and hotel taxes historically total about $61 million to $71 million and noting that short‑term rental fee distributions are paused due to litigation and that tornado damage makes some revenue projections uncertain.
Mavis Thompson, St. Louis City Licensed Collector, told the Budget and Public Employees Committee on May 27 that the office collects most of the city’s municipal, manufacturing and hotel taxes and that recent tornado damage makes FY26 revenue projections uncertain.
Thompson said the Licensed Collector’s office is a county office under Missouri statutes but is a citywide elected position in St. Louis. She said the office collects a mix of municipal, manufacturing and hotel‑motel taxes and that the total annual collections have ranged “anywhere from around $61,000,000 to $71,000,000,” figures she described as pre‑ and post‑COVID comparisons.
Thompson outlined where revenue flows: she said more than 96% of collected taxes are distributed to recipient entities and described the largest single share going to the city’s general revenue fund. “The largest beneficiary, totally distributed, was probably right at 61% of that and that was to the general revenue fund for city services,” Thompson said. She added that public schools received about 17% of distributed funds.
The Licensed Collector’s office keeps a small commission on collections (generally rounded to 3–4%), which Thompson said results in roughly $1.0 million available to operate the office. She described personnel costs as the bulk of expenditures and said the office has set its entry‑level pay to $20 an hour.
Thompson flagged short‑term rental revenue as a special case: the portion of short‑term rental fees that would be distributed is currently paused because of ongoing litigation. She also warned that tornado damage complicates outreach to affected businesses; SLDC and other partners are distributing pamphlets but Thompson questioned how destroyed businesses would receive recovery information. “You’re going out putting out pamphlets but the businesses have been destroyed,” she said.
Thompson described field work supported by a small fleet of automobiles used to check business operations and reported that the office tries to apply due process rather than punitive enforcement when businesses are out of compliance. Committee members thanked Thompson for providing tax breakdowns and said they would coordinate on business recovery efforts and forums to support affected businesses.
No committee vote on the Licensed Collector’s proposed budget was reported during the May 27 session.
