HERMANN — Gasconade County Treasurer Mike Feagan could be looking to manage another big bundle off money in 2025, thanks to the continuing strong showing of the General Fund Sales Tax.

“If it keeps going the way it’s going, I figure we should get about $1.233 million,” Feagan told the County Commission Thursday morning. If the tax produces more that $1.228 million, it would be the fifth consecutive year for a record amount of revenue.

Feagan reported during last week’s Commission session that the August reimbursement check from the Missouri Department of Revenue is for $105,442 — the third straight month of at least $100,000 and the sixth month for at least $100,000 out of the first eight months of the year. While this month’s amount was down from last August’s receipt of $112,547, it was $1,000 more than the amount received in July.

So this year, the General Fund Sales Tax has produced $822,046 — $9,939 more than was received from the tax by this time last year.

The General Fund Sales Tax provides the dollars for most of county government’s operations, such as payroll, insurance, supplies, utility bills and other daily expenses. General Fund dollars provide the financing for the various county government departments, although some agencies — such as the Road Department and the Sheriff’s Department — have their own sources of revenue.

The other main sources of sales tax money — the Use Tax and the Law Enforcement Sales Tax — also provided welcome news to county administrators this month.

The Use Tax, which is the sales tax applied to purchases made from out-of-state vendors, generated $59,504 in this month’s check, Feagan reported. That’s $25,000 more than was received from the tax last month. Through the first eight months of this year, the Use Tax has produced $400,418 for county government. That compares with a total of $535,723 generated for all of last year. The Use Tax, a portion of which is dedicated to Gasconade County Communications, the countywide 911 dispatch service, should produce a significant amount more in the remaining four months, according to Feagan.

“We ought to do about $600,000” this year, the county treasurer told the Commission.

This is only the third full year that the Use Tax will have been collected.

It was approved by voters in April of 2021 and the first Use Tax reimbursement check was for $1.74 in November of ‘21. In 2022 it produced $237,081.

Voters had rejected the Use Tax a half-dozen times during the past 10 to 12 years before granting approval as online sales soared during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, which kept shoppers at home and on delivery trucks crisscrossing the county on a daily basis delivering products ordered primarily online.

The Law Enforcement Sales Tax (LEST), a half-cent sales tax that is split 75-25 between the Gasconade County Sheriff’s Department and five of the county’s six municipalities, produced a substantial amount last month at $75,070, almost $2,000 more than was received last month and the second-largest monthly amount received this year behind the $79,428 received in June.

So far this year, the LEST has produced $571,227 for the sheriff’s agency and $190,409 for the municipalities. The total of $761,618 compares to the 2023 total of $1,128,604. Last year, the tax generated $846,457 for the Sheriff’s Department and $282,147 for the municipal police agencies.

Feagan did not have a breakdown of this month’s municipal portion in time for the Commission session.