Pierce City aldermen approve tobacco sales ordinance

Violations of new law subject to $500 fine

Pierce City aldermen approved an ordinance prohibiting the sale of tobacco products to those under the age of 21.

Violations of the ordinance could result in fines up to $500 for each occurrence.

The action was approved at the regular meeting held Jan. 10 and became effective immediately.

Aldermen also received additional information from the Missouri Municipal League on the proposed use tax question, Prop U, set for the April 5 ballot.

Approval of the ballot measure will not increase local taxes, but serve as a measure to collect taxes from out of state vendors like Amazon.com and other online entities. It is not an additional sales tax, which is collected by local retailers in Missouri.

The use tax helps counterbalance the effect of local revenues decreasing due to the number of online purchases increasing. Monies collected from out-of-state vendors will help fund municipal services including public safety, additional sidewalks, parks and emergency equipment.

The local use tax rate has been set the same as the sales tax rate, and is subject to adjustment as sales taxes rise or fall. The use tax and sales tax are not interchangeable, and consumers can not be taxes twice, as purchases can not fall within both categories of in-state or out-of-state sales. The use tax merely assures out-of-state vendors are taxed at the same rate as purchases from local businesses.

Payment requests from vendors working on the water system improvements have been delayed due to a change in project management at the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), according to Julie Johnson, city clerk, who said the oversight will be corrected as soon as possible.

The next regular meeting of the Pierce City Board of Aldermen will be at 6 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 14, at City Hall.