1% tax would raise about $40,00 annually for staffing, equipment, facility

By Kyle Troutman [email protected]

The city of Washburn is asking voters to approve a one-cent sales tax for public safety, aiming to use the revenues for staffing, equipment and a possible office for the police chief outside of City Hall.

Kristy Brinkman, Washburn mayor, said the city made the move from two part-time police officers to one full-time chief last year, and the intent for the tax is to continue to improve public safety in the city.

“With our existing funds, we are not able to keep pace with expenses like personnel, equipment and community safety concerns,” she said. “Looking down the road, we’d like to keep improving over a longer period.”

Washburn currently levies three sales taxes: one cent for the general fund, a half-cent for capital projects and a half-cent for transportation.

In 2025, all three taxes produced nearly $67,000, but a two-month suspension of collections by the State Auditor due to clerical issues left another $15,000 off the table. The city also collects a use tax at 2%, which netted almost $33,000 in 2025 for the city’s general fund.

If passed, the one-cent public safety tax is expected to bring in around $40,000 annually.

Brinkman said prior to the city hiring for a full-time police presence in Chief James Morgan, residents often had to rely on the Barry County Sheriff’s Office to respond to calls.

“Sometimes, that response time was not great, but I understand because they have a whole county to cover,” she said. “Having James full-time, and him living 10 minutes outside of town, has greatly decreased response times. we have also not able to apply for certain grants without having a full-time officer.”

Last year, the city procured three grants for law enforcement. The Missouri Blue Shield Grant was awarded for $50,000 with $46,000 going toward a patrol vehicle, $1,000 to equipment and $3,000 going to K-9 training for Morgan. The city has again applied for the grant this year.

The JIREH K-9 Grant brought, $10,000, which was used to purchase Morgan’s drug dog. And, a Missouri Coalition for Safety grant added $2,481 for radar equipment.

If the proposed sales tax were to pass, Brinkman said personnel, equipment and a possible police office separate from City Hall would be key expenditures.

“It would be nice to give Chief Morgan a raise, because he usually works more than 40 hours a week,” she said. “If we can hire a part-time officer, that would also be great because James would not have to be on-call 24/7. The majority of people in the city are glad to see James’ presence and someone here.

“We’ve also batted around the possibility of him having his own office. The one he is in now was the mayor’s office, but he needed the space more than me in City Hall to keep his records safe. The is someone planning to redo the old lodge building to make office spaces. That’s nowhere near done but could be an option in the future. We can also look into putting something like a tiny house here on city property. Either way, that’s all down the road and won’t happen overnight.”

Morgan’s current pay is $36,830 per year. Morgan’s drug dog, which is trained to detect methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin, is certified by the National Narcotics Drug Dog Association out of Texas, which is recognized by Missouri Peace Officer Standards and Training as nationally certified.

If passed, the addition of a public safety tax would open general fund dollars for use elsewhere in the city, and Brinkman hopes to get feedback from residents on how it should be utilized.

“Streets are a priority,” she said. “We have two companies giving us bids for the best route to take with 15th Street. We’ve also discussed a park area or community center. Currently, residents use church basements for storm shelters, so we hope down the road to maybe have a community shelter.”

The city of Washburn has nine businesses that collect sales tax, and if passed, the total of 3% in sales taxes would be the maximum the city could levy per state law.

Voters may have their say on the measure in the April 7 General Municipal Election.