Western County Commissioner Johnny Williams told the Nixa City Council on Oct. 27 that Christian County will ask voters Nov. 4 to approve a 1.5% use tax on out-of-state online purchases and announced a plan to roll the county's property tax levy from 0.0446% to 0.01% if the tax is adopted.

Williams said the 1.5% use tax is intended, in part, to "level the playing field for our local businesses," because local purchases already collect local sales tax while many out-of-state online purchases do not. He described the levy rollback as a way to return revenue to property owners while still capturing online purchase revenue at the county level.

The commissioner provided budget context for the request, saying county sales tax growth this year was 0.26% and that the county is the fastest-growing in the state. He warned that growth increases demand for services including roads, policing and the jail, and said that when the county reaches a population of 100,000 and sustains it for six months the county will be required to add an associate circuit judge and additional prosecutorial staff.

Williams offered an illustrative example for homeowners: a reduction in the county portion of a property tax bill that he said would cut roughly $34 from a $45 annual property tax payment in one example. He said a typical resident would have to spend about $200 a month on qualifying out-of-state purchases to offset the property tax cut he described.

Williams also described recent one-time costs to the county, including nearly $1 million to repair jail sewer infrastructure and about $260,000 in road repairs after May flooding, and said construction costs for resurfacing have risen since 2020.

The commissioner closed by inviting questions and emphasizing the county's goal of using new revenue to meet infrastructure and service demands rather than simply increasing taxes.

"We don't want to just raise taxes," Williams said. "That's not the goal."