The Joplin City Council held an informal session on June 15, 2026, beginning at 11:30 AM. The meeting featured three presentations: a financial information update from city staff, a quarterly update from the Downtown Joplin Alliance, and a quarterly update from the Joplin Sports Authority. No formal votes or decisions were taken, as this was an informal session.
Financial Information Update – City staff presented the June sales tax and use tax figures. Sales tax for June 2026 was down 5.4% compared to the previous month, but up 2.92% year-to-date. Use tax decreased 11% for the month, but was up 6% for the year. Marijuana tax revenue was down 38% for June (attributed to timing), but up 8% year-to-date. For the May General Fund, operating revenue was over budget by $881,325, and operating expenditures were under budget by $861,000. One-time revenue was under budget by $1.2 million, while one-time expenditures were under budget by $1.6 million, resulting in a net gain of $862,000. Outstanding encumbrances totaled $4.2 million. Staff noted that balancing the budget requires the use of one-time revenue.
Downtown Joplin Alliance Quarterly Update – Presented by Laurie Hahn. Key highlights included:
Joplin Sports Authority Quarterly Update – Presented by Mr. Braggman. Key points:
All right, we'll get this informal session of the Joplin City Council underway. And we have financial information update. Evening, Mayor, Council. Tonight I'm presenting June sales tax and use tax. So for sales tax June of this month compared to last month, we're down almost 5.4%. But for the year, we're up still almost uh three percent. Uh about 2.92%. So on use tax. Also down for the month, uh just over 11%, uh, but we're still up for the year six percent. Marijuana, we're down just over 38%. But again, uh last June was one of those big big months. It was just timing. Uh so that is about the normal amount, uh, and we're still up about eight percent. Any questions on any of the sales or use tax? Okay, if not, I'll move to the May General Fund Financials. Um operating revenue. Uh, right now we are coming in over budget by 881,325. Operating expenditures, we are under budget by 861,000. Uh however, one-time revenue, we are under budget by almost 1.2 million dollars, but one-time expenditures were under budget by 1.6 million. So right now uh we have a gain of about $862,000, but we have outstanding encumbrances of almost $4.2 million. And then uh you'll see the graph, uh, which again shows that in order to balance our budget, we have to use uh one-time revenue to make it work. So with that, uh, do you have any questions on the financials? Okay. Questions, I see none. Thank you. Thank you very much. The downtown Joplin quarterly update. Good evening, Mayor and Council. It's nice to see everybody. Um here just to give you our regular quarterly update today. Um kicking off with the Empire Market. We celebrated eight years in April. Uh so we're starting our ninth summer and are now into peak season. Tons of produce on the table. If you guys have not been out lately, uh, it's definitely worth coming by and and checking it out. Uh first quarter, our numbers were great. Uh, we had vendor sales up uh more than 50 percent, and customer attendance was up 44 percent over the first quarter of 2025. Um we have a wait list for vendors at this point, so market halls are full every week, and we're starting to set people up in the courtyard or out front, kind of experimenting with some other areas to be able to continue to grow and meet the demand of the the vendors. Um beginning to look for some opportunities and researching funding for um renovation of the large covered garage. We have a big 11,000 square foot uh garage area to the immediate west of the building. It's attached to the building. Um needs some significant work done, but it gives us a lot of future um growth potential. So we'll be looking at that in coming years. Um April, our staff and board um attended the National Main Street Conference. It was held in Tulsa in honor of the hundred years of Route 66. Um these are always great opportunities to connect with other communities who do what we do and to deep dive into some specific topics, bring back resources and expertise on downtown revitalization to Joplin. Um in May, we partnered with the city, uh, the State Historic Preservation Office and Missouri Southern and hosted the State Historic Preservation Symposium, um, which was another great opportunity to learn about and to share what Joplin does with historic preservation. Um and then coming up, we have the state conference um in July. It too is located on Route 66. Imagine that, uh, just down the road in Springfield.