Howard County voters will decide April 7 whether to approve a 1% countywide sales tax for the Howard County Ambulance District in exchange for cutting the district’s property tax levy in half.

The ballot measure, “Ambulance District Property Tax Relief,” aims to shift part of the funding burden from property owners to a broader base that includes the district said would include visitors and college students. If passed, the sales tax is projected to generate about $760,000 a year, while property taxes paid to the district would be reduced by roughly $380,000, half the current revenue.

However, in parts of Fayette, the proposed 1% sales tax would push the combined rate above 10%. The current rate inside the Community Improvement District, which encompasses downtown and stretches south to include C&R Market, Dollar General, and Casey’s, already stands at 9.22%.

During a public question-and-answer session on March 14, District Director Frank Flaspohler cited a sharp rise in emergency calls that he says have outpaced current staffing and finances. The district handled 1,058 calls in 2022. That number climbed to 1,308 in 2025 and is projected to exceed 1,500 this year, he said.

The district currently operates with one full-time crew and one on-call crew. To maintain response times, Flaspohler said it needs two full-time crews stationed in-house 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Each crew requires at least one paramedic qualified for advanced life support. The district employs four paramedics now and would need eight under the new model.

Raising patient transport fees would not close the gap, Flaspohler explained, because about 75% of calls are covered by Medicare or Medicaid, which reimburse at fixed government rates far below the billed amount. The district has posted budget deficits in 2024 and 2025, driven largely by higher salaries, benefits, and insurance costs after it began partial second-crew coverage.

The exact ballot language reads: “Shall the Howard County Ambulance District annually reduce the total property tax levy on properties within the District by imposing a sales tax of one percent for the purpose of providing revenues for the operation of the Howard County Ambulance District, with such property tax reduction to be determined annually in an amount equal to fifty percent of the previous year’s revenue collected from the sales tax, and be further authorized to impose a use tax in an amount equal to such sales tax provided that if the sales tax is reduced or raised by voter approval, the local use tax rate shall also be reduced or raised by the same action?” (See a sample ballot on Page 8).

Approximately 20 ambulance districts across Missouri are seeking similar sales-tax proposals this year. The change would spread costs more equitably, Flaspohler said, while providing stable funding to replace aging equipment and support facility improvements.

Voters approved a property tax increase—from 32 cents to 49 cents per $100 of assessed valuation—for the district in 2022 that took effect Jan. 1, 2023. The new measure would roll back half of the current levy if the sales tax is approved.

The district also plans to expand. In November it purchased three lots at 205 South Williams Street in Fayette for $153,920 as part of a planned expansion. The hope is to build a new station that would house additional ambulances and crew quarters while keeping the current base at the Keller Building, just two blocks north of the proposed location. However, neighborhood residents have vehemently resisted the measure, and the Fayette city council has withheld approval of a zoning request until actual plans are presented.

I approved, the new sales tax is expected to go into effect starting with the third quarter of the year on July 1.