Local News – Friday, September 29th, 2017

This Sunday, new general sales tax rates go into effect that will be affecting business in Salem and in Dent County. The new sales tax rate for the City of Salem will be 8.350%, and the new rate for business in the county will be 6.475%. These rates changed with the passage of the two propositions to fund build and maintain a new jail. The new food sales tax will be 5.35% in the city and 3.475% in the county. For other pertinent information about the changes in the tax rates of if you have not received notification from the state, contact the Missouri Department of Revenue at 573-751-2836 to get more information. Remember, if you have a business that collects sales taxes, these changes need to be made to your cash registers to update the sales tax to start Sunday. You may need to contact your software company if they set up the rates for you on your machine.

The Dent County Commission met Thursday morning at the courthouse. Wade Jadwin was in to ask about an update on the status of getting county road 5080 chip and sealed. District 1 Commissioner Dennis Purcell said the priority in his district is to take care of the existing roads before any new roads are considered. Purcell did say Dent County Road 5080 was at top of the priority list when it comes to adding a new chip and seal road. In the road report, Commissioner Purcell said patch grading would be done and materials added to Dent County Road 5610 that completes that Title 2 Project. He said a man would be going to Springfield to get oil for chip and seal repair while another man would be replacing or repairing road signs that have been damaged or stolen. The worst area according to Purcell is the intersection of Highway 19 and county road 5510. If anyone sees anyone damaging road signs or stealing them, please call the Dent County Sheriff’s Office at 729-3241. District 2 Commissioner Gary Larson said brush would be cut on Dent County Roads 2510 and 2520. He also said county trucks 122 and 124 were due for service and that will be done, plus men are working on replacing a seal on the backhoe. Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles stated he attended the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Executive Board meeting Tuesday where 12 applications were funded for a total of $197,585 for recycling and waste reduction. At 10:00, bids were opened for the installation of new windows on the 3rd floor of the courthouse. Two bids were received: Armin Scheller with Restoration Services of Salem for $6,980.00 and the other from Cahill Construction Company for $10,000. The Commissioners went with the low bid from Restoration Services. The next meeting of the Dent County Commissioners will be Monday morning at 9:00 at the courthouse and the meeting is open to the public.

There will be an electronics and tire collection from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm this Saturday at the City of Salem construction parking lot at the corner of Third Street and Grand Avenue. The collection is for residential items only and you must unload items yourself. There is a $10.00 fee for CRT TVs, CRT computer monitors, flat screen TVs and flat screen computer monitors. Tire fees are $2.00 for passenger tires, $7.50 for truck tires, and $35.00 for tractor tires. There is no charge to drop off your old computers, DVD and CD players, cassette decks, keyboards, printers, cell phones, power tools or anything on a power cord. Some items will not be accepted items like VHS & data tapes, floppy disks, smoke detectors, thermostats, medical waste, gas containers, anything leaking oil or acid, broken ink or toner cartridges, broken CRT TVs or monitors. Residents of Dent, Crawford, Gasconade, Maries, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington Counties are eligible to participate in the collection. Sponsorship of the event is by Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the City of Salem, Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District, and Meramec Regional Planning Commission. For more information of for questions contact Jill Hollowell at MRPC by calling (573) 265-2993 or on email jhollowell@meramecregion.org.