St. Francois County State of the County Address

(St. Francois County, MO) St. Francois County residents are looking to the future after today's State of the County address. The annual speech was given via zoom this year over pandemic concerns. St. Francois County Presiding Commissioner, Harold Gallaher told the audience 2020 did not go as planned. Gallaher said by early March businesses were changing the way they were doing things and county offices followed suit.

Gallaher also talked about the 7.8 million dollars in CARES Act funding commissioners were tasked with distributing saying there are still several thousand dollars waiting to go out to those groups who have been approved to receive it. The unexpected rise in the county's sales tax over the past year was also discussed. Gallaher explains he feels the increase was due to residents of other counties, coming to St. Francois County once a week to get groceries and other supplies. The President of Mineral Area College, Dr. Joe Gilgour, also spoke during the event. He talked about untrue negative social media comments that surfaced after college officials approved deep budget cuts that will do away with the majors, and some of the colleges popular programs, with the change of the fiscal year. The address was carried live on AM 1240, KFMO by KFMO B104 News.