The Joplin City Council met informally on July 20, 2026, to receive a financial information update and an annual department update from the Marketing and Communications Department. The meeting included presentations from Ms. Haas (Finance) and Drew (Marketing Communications), with comments from council members. No formal votes were taken.
Okay, we'll get started with the uh informal meeting here at 5 30. Uh Financial Information Update. Ms. Haas. Welcome. Good evening, Mayor. Council. Um tonight I'm going to present July sales tax. Um good month, uh, which really represents May sales. Uh so July of this year compared to July of last year. We're up almost five and a half percent. So for the fiscal year, we're up over three percent. On use tax, uh good month for use tax. We are up almost 24%. Uh so for the year we're up 7.7 percent. Uh marijuana tax. Uh this was a timing, timing payment timing issue. Uh so you can see uh we're down 57%. I'm sure that will catch up next month, uh, but we're still up for the year, uh, four and a quarter. And then this is uh the time to look at our third quarter for our top 100 businesses. Uh so our top 100 businesses represents the majority of our sales tax collections. And if we look at the third quarter. Um the mall uh is mall and restaurants are doing a little bit better the third quarter of this year than last year. Uh discount stores are down just a little bit. Uh grocery stores are up just a little bit, uh restaurants down just a little bit, construction and home improvement is up considerably over last year. Motor vehicles up just a little bit. Um telephone and utilities down uh for this year, hotel motel up just a little bit, convenience stores are down. Um just a little bit. Uh 1717 is is up uh for the quarter, general retail is up for the quarter, and other is up for the quarter. Um then if we look year to date, so this would be through three quarters. Uh the mall is essentially even with last year. Uh discount stores uh is up for this year over last year. Grocery stores are grocery stores and furniture stores are about the same as last year, along with restaurants. Construction and home improvement is up just a little bit, motor vehicles up just a little bit, telephone is down, hotel motel tax is up just a little bit, convenience stores are just about even. Um North Park Crossing is up just a little bit, 1717 for the year is down just a little bit. Uh general retail is up just a little bit, and other is up. Uh any questions on the quarterly information. Council, any questions? I see none. Okay. Uh we'll move to the general fund financials, which are through June. Uh so this is eight months into the year. So our operating revenue uh we are over budget at this point. Umperating expenditures, we are under budget at this point. Uh one-time revenue, uh, we are actually under budget, and one-time expenditures. We are under budget. Uh so right now we're still showing a gain of about six hundred and eighty-three thousand dollars, uh, but we have outstanding encumbrances of almost three point nine million dollars. Um so uh you can see our projections, and then uh you can see the graph. Uh by next month, I will be updating this to include uh the updated projections for estimated actuals and uh the proposed budget. Any questions on the financials?