Voters to decide on 10-year renewal of Missouri sales tax for state parks and conservation

COLUMBIA Mo. KMIZ

Missouri state parks funding and soil and water conservation funding will be back on the ballot for the Aug. 4 election.

Amendment 1 is an automatically recurring 10-year renewal of Missouri's existing 1/10-cent statewide sales tax, which split-funds state parks and soil and water conservation efforts. The tax has won passage every 10 years since its inception in the 1980s.

The tax would specifically go to renovating facilities, maintenance and the upkeep of state parks.

Along with funding for the soil and water Conservation program to preserve water quality and help to reduce erosion to protect water quality.

Missouri Department of Natural Resources Director Kurt Schaefer said the tax generates around $168 million.

"So it gets split in half. So 50% goes to our state park system, and then the other 50% goes to the Soil and Water Conservation program," he said.

This year, with many other tax votes on the ballot, Schaefer said the familiarity of this amendment makes him confident it will pass again.

“I think the distinction with amendment one is voters have approved this so many times, in support of it, it showed through their vote that I think they're very familiar with it, you know, so every ten years that this has been on the ballot since the 1980s, it has increased in the number of votes it gets,” he said.

Scheaffer said that if the amendment is not passed, park funding would have to come out of the state's budget.

“Presumably general revenue, which is something that's in very short supply right now. We're dealing with a lot of issues in the state budget right now with general revenue," he said.

Adding that a lack of general funds was the reason this amendment was added to the ballot in the first place.

"So that's the one thing about this, really, in the 1980s that was put together by citizens who got this on initiative, a petition onto the ballot in 1984,” he said.

Tylet Schwartze with the Conservation Federation of Missouri said that if this amendment fails, it would lead to entrance fees returning to state parks.

“If it weren't to pass, it would definitely be some financial challenges. The burden on the state parks, potential entrance fees,” he said.

Scheaffer said one of the reasons behind the creation of the amendment in the 1980's was for that exact reason.

“Parks were actually starting to install gates to charge an entrance fee. And that's really what prompted the parks part of this tax to get people involved and get it on the ballot and get this passed initially in 1984," he said.

Schwartze said that even with other taxes up for a vote in August, he remains hopeful Amendment 1 will pass.

“Even though there are other amendments, I think it's important to focus on Amendment 1 and what it does, the impact that it has on the citizens. It’s a renewal tax;s been around since 1884. Last time, citizens renewed this tax by over 80%. So four out of five Missourians said yes last time,” he said.

The last time Amendment 1 appeared on the ballot was in 2016, when it was passed by 80% statewide.