The Reporter newspaper, Camdenton Missouri

The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Wednesdays.

Published June 12, 2019

Camdenton to participate in Sales Tax Holiday

CAMDENTON – For the first time, the city will be participating in the state’s annual “Sales Tax Holiday” in August.

In October of 2005 the city voted an ordinance to opt out of the annual Sales Tax Holiday. This annual “holiday” takes place on the first Friday in August and continues through the following Sunday.

Certain back-to-school purchases, such as clothing, school supplies, computers and other items (as defined by the statute) are exempt from sales tax for this time period only.

In 2018 the city took in slightly over $2,400 in taxes by not participating. According to Camdenton, in 2018 the cities of Osage Beach, Eldon, Camdenton, Laurie and St. Elizabeth also opted out.

The Missouri Department of Revenue said there are 160 cities and 49 counties, statewide, that have opted out of this “Sales Tax Holiday.” The board had discussed the possibility of participating in order to bring some addition business to the city.

Last week the Board of Aldermen passed both readings repealing the past opt-out ordinance, opening the door to join the sales tax holiday this year.

According to the Missouri Department of Revenue, the following items are exempt from sales tax during the holiday period as per state statute:

Clothing
• Any article of wearing apparel, including footwear, intended to be worn on or about the human body. The term shall include but not be limited to cloth and other material used to make school uniforms or other school clothing. Items normally sold in pairs shall not be separated to qualify for the exemption. The term shall not include watches, watchbands, jewelry, handbags, handkerchiefs, umbrellas, scarves, ties, headbands, or belt buckles. Each article of clothing must have a taxable value of $100 or less.

Personal computers
• A laptop, desktop, or tower computer system which consists of a central processing unit, random access memory, a storage drive, a display monitor, a keyboard, and devices designed for use in conjunction with a personal computer, such as a disk drive, memory module, compact disk drive, daughterboard, digitalizer, microphone, modem, motherboard, mouse, multimedia speaker, printer, scanner, single-user hardware, single-user operating system, soundcard, or video card. Personal computers and computer peripheral devices cannot exceed $1,500.

School supplies
• Any item normally used by students in a standard classroom for educational purposes, including but not limited to, textbooks, notebooks, paper, writing instruments, crayons, art supplies, rulers, book bags, back packs, handheld calculators, graphing calculators, chalk, maps, and globes. The term shall not include watches, radios, CD players, headphones, sporting equipment, portable or desktop telephones, copiers or other office equipment, furniture, or fixtures. The value of each school supply purchase is not to exceed $50. In addition, school supplies shall also include graphing calculators valued at $150 or less and computer software having a taxable value of $350 or less.

The city of Osage Beach has also voted to rescind their ordinance opting out and will also participate this year.

The sale tax holiday this year begins of Friday, August 2.

In other business at last week’s Board of Aldermen meeting:

• Gave an award to city employee Katie Burkhart for 30 years of service
• Received an update from SFS Architecture on the schematic drawings for the proposed Community Center

The spokesman from SFS displayed drawings of the proposed center explaining certain changes that were made from the initial drawings. Most of the changes were relatively minor and designed to be more accommodating to patrons and make better use of certain spaces in the facility.

• Approved an ordinance to execute Supplemental Agreement #1 to Pavement Maintenance and Remarking Runway 15/33 and Partial Parallel Taxiway at the Camdenton Memorial-Lake Regional Airport
• Also approved an ordinance to execute Amendment #1 with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission for Financial Assistance Through the State Block Grant Program for the Pavement Maintenance and Remarking Runway 15/33 and Partial Parallel Taxiway at the Camdenton Memorial-Lake Regional Airport

• Approved an agreement with the Wedding Exchange, LLC setting out the terms and conditions for the lease agreement for two existing buildings at 51 and 57 Court Circle Southwest
• Related to that agreement, the board gave approval on the assignment of a lease agreement with the Wedding Exchange, LLC to Mike Cisar and Chelsey Cisar, who will become the new owners of the business.
• Received an update on the city code re-codification