VIENNA — Use taxes are not being misdirected to the wrong county, according to Presiding Commissioner Vic Stratman during the June 1 commission meeting.

The commissioners thought that uses taxes from online orders might have been sent to the wrong county based on addresses and ZIP codes, but Director of Revenue Trish Vincent told Stratman that there are other identifiers to prevent that from happening.

While sales taxes are for in-person purchases, use taxes are for online purchases that are delivered to that address.

Because ZIP codes are based on post office delivery routes and not necessarily on city limits, a house could have an address with a city and ZIP outside of the county.

For example, a resident in southern Maries County could have a Rolla address and a 65401 ZIP code. The commissioners were concerned that the use tax revenue would be given to Phelps County instead.

Stratman said that according to Vincent, each tax district — such as ambulance and school districts — has its own code. When an address is cross-referenced in multiple districts, that eliminates the possibility of use taxes being assigned to the wrong county.

According to JoDonn Chaney, director of strategy and communications, the DOR provides maps, lists of the sales and use taxes, and quarterly changes.

But each business is responsible for collecting the proper taxes in each jurisdiction for the DOR to distribute. Chaney said that businesses need to use the proper road designation — such as street, avenue, road, etc. — to ensure accuracy.

Stratman had been wondering about this possibility for a couple years, but when he brought his concerns to legislators, no one seriously considered his concern until he spoke with Vincent.

“I was hoping that we could find an extra couple hundred thousand dollars,” Stratman said.

Sunshine records

The commissioners also approved a sunshine request policy. It designates that each of the elected department heads are responsible for maintaining their records for the policy. The next step was for Deputy Clerk Renee Kottwitz to collect acknowledgment signatures of the officials.

Highway 42 bridge construction

Stratman also visited the Fly Creek Bridge on Highway 42 to check on its progress, and the workers were laying steel, preparing to pour concrete. He also said the plan is for bridge to open by July 4 instead of in August.

The concrete is scheduled to be poured June 10, according to laborer Austin Alpers from Louis Company.