HERMANN – Hermann Tourism & Economic Development Director Tammy Bruckerhoff isn’t planning on taking much time off this summer.

“I am anticipating a very busy tourism season coming up,” she said last week during the regular monthly session of the Hermann Regional Economic Development (HRED) Corporation. City officials are hoping to divert some of the traffic associated with a pair of major events — the 100th Anniversary of Route 66 and the World Cup soccer games in Kansas City — from the region’s interstates into the Historic Downtown.

Many towns along and near the Mother Road are hoping to lure motorists into a day trip to their communities, seeing them as a potential source of tourism revenue.

The city also is taking steps to be extra welcoming of Amtrak riders, some of whom might be headed to Kansas City for the World Cup games being held there. Bruckerhoff earlier outlined a plan to have several volunteer greeters on hand for the two Amtrak stops daily. Bruckerhoff and her counterparts in other cities along the Amtrak route were lobbying hard for a third train to be added to the schedule for the route between St. Louis and Kansas City. However, she said, Amtrak opted against adding a third train.

Meanwhile, Hermann City Administrator Patricia Heaney, who, along with Bruckerhoff, represents city government on the HRED board, reported that the Board of Aldermen was scheduled to take up the Fiscal Year 2027 proposed budget at Monday night’s session. According to the proposed spending plan, the city will use about $15 million to deliver services in the community of about 2,100 residents.

While that might appear to be a large amount for a town the size of Hermann, Heaney said there’s not a lot of wiggle room regarding decisions on where to spend the taxpayers’ money.

“Money’s tight,” she said. “We spend the vast majority of our money on our aging infrastructure,” she added.

During a recent Board of Aldermen session, the city administrator reported that Hermann’s General Fund sales tax revenue was running about 1 percent ahead of the amount received for the same period a year ago. The FY27 budget, which takes effect July 1, will be bolstered with additional money from utility payments. The Board of Aldermen was set Monday night to give first-round approval to a 9.5-percent increase in the city’s electricity rate and a 2.5-percent increase in the sewer rate.

Gasconade County Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, attended the meeting via teleconference. He was the eighth member of the 15-member board and his attendance allowed the directors to formally conduct business.

The county official reported that Road Department crews again were pressed into responding to damage caused by spring storms, repairing washouts and clearing downed trees — chores that kept the road agency’s workers from the regular maintenance of county roads.

SB 3: Awaiting legal challenge

He noted that county officials, like the officials of municipal governments and public school districts, are awaiting the upcoming court hearing on the lawsuit challenging the legality of Senate Bill 3, the property tax-relief measure that was approved last year by the Missouri General Assembly.

If that law is upheld, local government agencies across Missouri will lose much of their revenue beginning in 2027. An analysis by Gasconade County Assessor Julia Baker concluded that the various property tax-dependent agencies in Gasconade County could lose more than $600,000. Gasconade County R-1 and R-2 school districts would be hit the hardest with revenue loss.

The next regular session is set for Tuesday, July 7.