VIENNA — After two years, the Maries Osage Ambulance District (MOAD) is still not collecting sales taxes from annexed parts of Maries and Osage counties near Meta, according to Administrator Carla Butler.

She has continued reaching out to the Department of Revenue to resolve the situation for over a year, but a resolution may be coming soon.

“I get frustrated working with them even,” Butler said. “Just, I have so much to do.”

JoDonn Chaney, director of strategy and communications for DOR, said they have been working to update the geographic information system (GIS) maps so that taxes can be collected in the annexed areas. GIS maps are computerized systems that pinpoint geographic data, such as landmarks or fire hydrants.

Since April 2025, Butler has been communicating back and forth with Stephen Pilkington, DOR lead customer service representative, to update the DOR’s system.

When Butler sent a map and the list of businesses, Pilkington said that he needed her to send a GIS map of the district with all the businesses. According to the DOR, this map must be “of professional quality and accurately drawn,” and “rough sketches or pictorial drawings” are not allowed.

Butler is unsure how to create that map. Pilkington pointed her to the Integrity GIS of Osage County, but Butler could not find an option to display the businesses. When she reached out to the assessor’s office, she was told that they have a list of businesses but not a map.

“I don’t know where they’re at. Nobody can help me with where to put where they’re at,” Butler said.

Maries County did provide Butler a map with businesses for the annexed area.

When Pilkington checked the GIS in May 2026, he also couldn’t find the Osage County business list. Butler then showed him the annexed areas. Pilkington said that he would update the map and that he just needed an updated businesses list by June 1 so that by July 1, collection could begin. Pilkington is now working with Maries and Osage counties to get the lists of businesses.

When the Comm-Unity Ambulance disbanded in 2023, MOAD and the Osage Ambulance District (OAD) filled in the gap. Voters approved the annexation in April 2024, which should have resulted in the collection of each agency’s sales and property taxes, effective in October of the same year.

The delay was caused because Missouri State Statute 32.310 (7) requires that after the DOR receive the required documentation before the sales tax will go into effect the following quarter, after businesses have been notified for 120 days.

The DOR currently collects a half percent sales tax to fund the district, but that will increase to 1 percent in October because voters approved an increase in April. New taxes take effect in the second quarter after passage.

After the election, Butler notified the DOR and the counties about the annexation and sent the requested documents. She also acquired a list of businesses in the district from Osage County, Maries County and Meta.

“And then didn’t hear nothing back. So I thought everything was kosher,” Butler said.

But when a few Osage County residents showed Butler their 2024 property tax bills, it did not include the MOAD tax. When Butler reached out to Osage County in spring 2025, they told her that they were not notified.

Osage County said they were not going to reissue the statements; MOAD had lost that revenue. But Maries County did include the MOAD property tax on its bills.

That prompted Butler to reach out to the DOR in April 2025 to see if the sales tax was being collected in the annexed areas, and it was not. DOR had no record of the notification.

Butler said that she sent the documentation via email, not certified mail, as required by state law.

She is concerned about other issues happening with other entities. For example, a DOR representative told Maries County Clerk Rhonda Rodgers that the paperwork had been lost to start collecting a 1-percent sales tax for the newly formed Maries County Emergency Services Board.

Rodgers sent the required documentation after the voters approved the tax in November 2025, but she only found out about the delay in March. This resulted in a one-month delay from April 1 to May 1, but it was originally going to be three months.

“So where is the issue? There’s something wrong. That’s two agencies in Maries County,” Butler said.

When The Advocate reached out to Pilkington for comment, he said that he couldn’t speak with reporters. The Advocate also requested comment from the Osage County Assessor Tina Kammerich, but did not hear back by deadline.