HERMANN — When cotton was king in Missouri’s Bootheel, stalks would grow to five or six feet tall, loaded with snow-white bolls that would become part of many bales from that particular field — an indication of the good fortune bestowed upon the crop’s farmer. Hence, the reference of someone being “in tall cotton.”

Despite being far removed from those flatland fields, Gasconade County Clerk Lesa Lietzow now finds herself in tall cotton — an enviable position for someone putting together an operating budget. Rather than having a trailer-full of cotton, Lietzow and other county officials are facing an unprecedented amount of money with which to begin an annual operating budget.

Year-end projections of revenues and expenses put the county government’s 2023 ending balance at about $1.5 million — far more than county administrators ever had available when putting pencil to paper in crafting a spending plan.

“These numbers are much higher than I’ve ever worked with before,” said Lietzow during the county’s Salary Commission meeting several weeks ago. “We’re going to start ‘24 with $1.6 million. I can’t believe I’m saying that,” the county clerk said.

The good financial fortune likely figured into the salary increases granted — in divided votes by the Salary Commission members — for the County Coroner’s Office and the Public Administrator’s Office. The large balance also makes it easier for the County Commission to include a pay raise — projected at 5 percent — for county employees, as well as funding the traditional 5-cent-per-hour increase based on the number of years of service.

Putting county officials in a position of generosity are primarily two sales taxes — the half-cent General Fund Sales Tax and the 1.325-cent Use Tax, the sales tax that’s applied to sales made from out-of-state vendors. Those sales involve mostly online purchases.

The General Fund Sales Tax generated a fourth consecutive year of record revenue at $1,230,916. Indeed, the total amount almost reached the unusually high projection for the tax ($1.28 million) written into this year’s operating budget.

The Use Tax, which for the most part was not figured into this year’s spending plan, ended the year producing $535,714 — about $200,000 more than administrators were hoping to receive.

Lietzow suggested the various departments of county government see this healthy financial situation as a chance to seek some improvements. “Maybe you’re going to put some things in place” after holding off on them in previous years, she said.

But shortly after the clerk held out the prospect of offices taking care of some delayed projects, county administrators showed their concern about jumping into the deep end of the pool of money. In an 8-2 vote, the Salary Commission approved half the amount that could be awarded to the Coroner’s Office. Those two dissenting votes came from Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, and Northern District Associate Commissioner Jim Holland, R-Hermann.

Likewise, when it came time to vote on a recommended salary increase for the Public Administrator’s Office, the entire County Commission balked, with Southern District Associate Commissioner Jerry Lairmore, R-Owensville, joining his colleagues to vote 6-3-1 on the $18,000 increase to the base pay of $25,000. The actual amount of pay includes a couple cost-of-living adjustments.

Those new pay rates begin with the start of the offices’ new terms Jan. 2, 2025.

There will be more money available in the coming year — although, it’s not clear by any means just how much more. County officials do not have a good estimate on what the 3-percent sales tax on marijuana will generate, considering there is only one marijuana retailer in the county.

Nor is it clear whether the sales tax will hold up.

There is a legal challenge to the so-called “stacking” of multiple sales taxes on marijuana. The approval of Amendment 3, which legalized the sale of marijuana for recreational use, included a 6-percent state sales tax and the options of 3-percent sales taxes by counties and municipalities that have marijuana retailers. The sale of pot also is subject to the normal sales taxes applied by state and local governments; hence, the claim of “stacking.”

Shortly after the sale of marijuana was legalized, local governments were advised by state tax officials that the so-called stacking was allowed.

Lietzow said her budget projections do not include any funds from the marijuana tax, not knowing if the sales tax will be remitted monthly, quarterly or yearly by the retailer.

“Nowhere (in the budget) have I allowed for that money,” the county clerk said.