HERMANN – After a lackluster start to begin the new year, Gasconade County’s sales taxes rebounded strongly this month. Indeed, the February reimbursement of $126,914 is the largest monthly check ever received from the Missouri Department of Revenue.

The big amount is more than $30,000 above the January amount of $96,.665 — the smallest amount received in January in at least the past five years, according to the monthly sales tax report from County Treasurer Mike Feagan to the County Commission at last Thursday’s weekly session.

This month’s amount compares with the $106,689 received in February of last year. This month’s reimbursement puts the county at almost $9,000 ahead of the amount received in the first two months of last year — $223,579 to $214,589.

The General Fund Sales Tax, which provides the bulk of the county’s revenues for providing services, last year produced $1,240,668. The sales tax has reached record levels in each of the past half-dozen years. Also roaring back in February was the half-cent Law Enforcement Sales Tax (LEST), which is shared 75-percent-25-percent with five the counties six municipalities. The tax generated $88,206 — the largest monthly amount since the tax was approved by voters in April of 2022. Thus far this year, the LEST has produced a total of $208,036.

Last year, the LEST generated a total of $1,145,786. Of that the Gasconade County Sheriff’s Department received $859,340 while the municipalities received $286,446.

The other significant source of sales tax revenue for county government is the Use Tax, which last year generated $611,0768 — far more than county officials had hoped when the tax was approved by voters in April of 2021. The February reimbursement check for the Use Tax was for $68,735. That’s the second-largest monthly amount received since the tax began. The largest monthly amount came in August of 2023 at $93,742.

This month’s Use Tax amount is $30,000 larger than the February 2025 amount. For the first two months of this year, the tax is running $39,929 ahead of the two-month total of last year.

The Use Tax is the sales tax of 1.325 cents applied to every dollar spent on purchases made from out-of-state vendors — primarily those made online — and it’s shared with the Gasconade County Enhanced-911 Program — about $200,000 for last year, based on the total amount directed to the county.

As for the distribution of the LEST revenue for municipal policing agencies for the month and year to date: Owensville – $13,524; $23,924; Hermann – $10,584; $18,723; Bland – $2,352; $4,160; Rosebud – $2,058; $3,640; Gasconade – $882; $1,560.