Boone County auditor signals early warning about sales tax projections

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Boone County official is sounding an early warning to prepare for a possible sharp loss in revenue from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Boone County Auditor June Pitchford said in an email to Boone County commissioners earlier this week that some economists are predicting declines in sales tax revenue between 30% and 50% because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the steps taken to slow the virus. 

The numbers are an early projection and subject to change.

"As of now there is no hard data regarding Boone County’s sales tax revenue and there won’t be for several months," Pitchford wrote.

Pitchford mentioned that the decline in revenue would likely extend for several months. She said it is likely that Boone County could see a reduction in sales tax revenue of 10% to 30%, but it's impossible to predict right now. 

"In the recession of 2007 through 2009 Boone County's sales tax revenue declined by 7.3%," Pitchford wrote, "and it appears that the economic impact of COVID-19 will likely be more severe than we experienced then."

Pitchford said she wanted to alert the county commission because she thinks county officials should be prepared for a significant decline in revenue and begin internal discussions.

Boone County officials say it's too early to tell what kind of economic effect COVID-19 will have on county services.

Fred Parry, Boone County District One Commissioner thinks we won't know what kind of impact there’s been until July or August, but Parry says we need to be talking about economic recovery.

“I think we're just so distracted by trying to contain this virus that we really haven't been able to put our best minds to work yet to figure out how we're going to get out of this thing economically," said Parry.

Parry said the county needs good data to go off of to start thinking about the long term recovery.

“There's just no indication of how significant this is going to be," said Parry. "So until we start getting some good hard numbers in, it's hard to really formulate a recovery plan or sort of a plan of attack.”

Parry thinks one of the things that the community is learning throughout this experience is just how valuable locally owned businesses are.

“I think we're gaining a whole new appreciation for the many blessings that we have locally," said Parry. "Including some of the great local businesses that have kept this town going for 200 years.”

Parry said that the federal government can help fill in some of the gaps with disaster relief funds that are being delivered, but there’s still work to do. 

“It's gonna take us a while to recover from this financially and economically," said Parry. "So we're going to have a lot of work to do then in the coming months.”

Parry said he is getting a survey ready for the business community to get some feedback on how the the health order has affected their businesses.

Stay up to date on this developing story here and on ABC 17 News at 5pm & 6pm.