HERMANN — After pausing to take a breath in May, Gasconade County’s General Fund Sales Tax roared back strong this month to what could be another record-setting pace for the year.

“General Revenue is phenomenal,” said County Treasurer Mike Feagan during his report Thursday morning to the County Commission. Indeed, after posting a nearly-$26,000 drop in May from the $106,373 contained in the April General Fund Sales Tax check, the June receipt came in at $111,458.

“The biggest June (check) in the years that I’ve been tracking receipts,” Feagan said.

This month’s reimbursement check is right at $8,000 more than was received in June of last year.

Through the first six months of the year, the county’s General Fund Sales Tax has produced $598,841 — $25,078 more than was received by this time last year. And last year’s total of $1.2 million was the third consecutive record year for General Fund Sales Tax revenue.

Again this month, the county’s Use Tax — the sales tax applied to purchases made from out-of-state vendors, primarily sales made online that spiked during the COVID pandemic — is proving to be a significant source of income for county government. The June Use Tax reimbursement check was for $26,905, down from last month’s receipt of $27,871.

“Use Tax is down a little bit this month, but, again, there is no rhyme or reason,” Feagan said.

The surprising thing about this tax is that it is continuing to grow, even as the pandemic is being talked about in the past tense. So far, the first six months of the year have seen the Use Tax generate $196,816. Feagan noted that through the first half of the year, the tax revenue is running more than $76,000 ahead of what was received by this time last year. Indeed, the treasurer said, the Use Tax — estimated by some officials to potentially produce up to $300,000 this year — could generate upwards of $400,000 by the time the final reimbursement check arrives.

Last year — the first full 12 months of collection of this sales tax — the Use Tax produced $237,081. After a half-dozen failed attempts to bring Gasconade County in line with other local governments collecting the Use Tax, county administrators in April of 2021 convinced voters to adopt what has become an unexpected source of revenue. “It’s the first new money the county has had in forever,” noted County Clerk Lesa Lietzow, the county’s chief budget officer.

It should be noted that the monthly receipts this year from the Use Tax are running significantly higher than the amounts received last year, an indication, county officials say, of continued strong online sales and more and more out-of-state vendors working the Use Tax into their sales tax calculations.

Meanwhile, the county’s third major sales tax source — the half-cent Law Enforcement Sales Tax — has posted “the biggest month ever,” Feagan noted. The June check is for $76,324. Estimated at the outset to generate about $1 million over the course of a year, the Law Enforcement Sales Tax already has produced a total of more than a half-million — $540,667 to be exact.

The tax, which was approved in April of 2022, is shared with five of the county’s six municipalities on a 75-25 basis with the cities’ portions determined by population. The breakdown thus far of the tax shows the county receiving $405,500 and the cities receiving a total of $135,166.

Here are the June amounts for the cities: Owensville, $11,700; Hermann, $9,158; Bland, $2,035; Rosebud, $1,780; Gasconade, $763. Year-to-date totals for the municipalities are: Owensville, $62,176; Hermann, $48,660; Bland, $10,613; Rosebud, $9,461; Gasconade, $4,055.