VIENNA — The Maries Osage Ambulance District’s half percent sales tax is now being collected in annexed parts of Maries and Osage counties near Meta, according to Administrator Carla Butler.

She received confirmation in June from Stephen Pilkington, Department of Revenue lead customer service representative, that starting July 1, collection would begin.

Voters also approved in April to increase the sales tax to 1 percent and add a 1 percent use tax, which will also go into effect Oct. 1, the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The DOR’s rate tables for July through September, updated May 22, do not show the new rate for Meta. However, the DOR’s sales and use tax lookup website does reflect the change.

After Comm-Unity disbanded in 2023, MOAD and the Osage Ambulance District (OAD) annexed those areas. Voters in April 2024 approved MOAD’s annexation. Voters in the northern area on Nov. 7, 2023, approved annexation into OAD.

Joshua Krull, OAD EMS chief, said that effective Oct. 1, his district’s 0.5 percent sales tax annexed areas will be collected in the annexed areas. Krull said that his district notified Osage County before and after the election for property taxes and voting areas.

Krull also said that his district notified the DOR of the annexation Jan. 24, 2024, but after newspaper’s articles covered MOAD’s sales taxes not being collected near Meta, Krull contacted the DOR again.

The DOR told Krull that MOAD had submitted incorrect boundaries that didn’t match the property tax and ballot language. After Krull contacted MOAD and involved his district’s lawyer, he said OAD and MOAD sent a joint statement June 30 to the DOR to clarify the boundaries.