Milestones offer context for today

There are two documents produced each year that offer a historical record of major milestones in our community, and they don’t get nearly enough attention from us.

It is the financial packets — a budget and an audit — that cities, counties and schools are required to produce annually.

I get it. These are complex documents that can be very overwhelming, both for people who never interact with those numbers and for the groups that compile them.

But they also tell us valuable information about what our tax dollars are doing, and not just in the year for which they are prepared.

For Poplar Bluff, you can track the upward trajectory of the retail sector. Instead of a community that’s fighting losses, like much of middle America, we have grown.

The city’s 1-cent general fund sales tax collected just under $3 million in 1996, audit documents show.

It had more than doubled, to $6.4 million, by 2021.

This is the moment when I often hear people say “Aha! See how much money the city has!”

But that milestone means a lot of things for us.

And not only as taxpayers, but as the people who live and work in a community we want to see thrive. Because that means our families can thrive with it. It means we have an opportunity to earn a living and build something meaningful for those who come after us.

First, $3 million in sales tax collections for us translates into $300 million in retail spending from our region within the shops owned and operated in this community.

In the following 25 years, the growth of our retail sector — which brought more jobs and more opportunity — has also brought more than $600 million in annual retail spending to this small Missouri town.

The increase in general fund sales tax collections from 2020 to 2021 far exceeded single-year growth for the 25 years prior. It was more than $700,000.

While inflation may account for some of the increase, it’s far from all of it. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports inflation in 2021 was 7% compared to our more than 12% growth in sales tax collections.

This equals far more shopping dollars coming home to Butler County.

The fact that new stores and factories want to be here means they see what we already knew, the value of Poplar Bluff and its residents.

This is something to celebrate.

But the other part of that, the part we also have to look at, is how much money does the city really have?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index reports prices today are 1.91 times as high as average prices in 1996. Other examples we can look at include the national minimum wage, which was $4.75 per hour in 1996. A gallon of gas was just over $1.

Here in Poplar Bluff, you can see some of how things have changed in the amount of money the city contributes to LAGERS. LAGERS is the Missouri Local Government Employees Retirement System. The city is required by state statute to contribute a certain percentage on behalf of its qualified employees each year.

In 2000, the city was contributing about $930,000 a year to LAGERS.

In 2021, that figure was almost $2.3 million, with an additional nearly $200,000 a year to a separate police and fireman’s pension plan.

That’s one example, but there are many more. We all know that because we see it each month in our own homes and budgets.

Change is never just one thing. It always brings with it benefits and detriments.

To see the whole picture, we have to look at both of those.

To find out more about Poplar Bluff’s growth in recent decades, look for the Southeast Missourian’s B Magazine on Feb. 25 and the March 4 edition of the Daily American Republic. Publisher Chris Pruett speaks with area leaders about the changing face of a retail, medical and manufacturing hub for Southeast Missouri.

Donna Farley is the editor of the Daily American Republic. She can be reached at dfarley@darnews.com.