School District 200 Annexation Public Hearing Postponed

A public hearing to consider annexation of property owned by Sedalia School District 200 was postponed Wednesday night.

The original date of the hearing was supposed to be Tuesday, Feb. 18, but it was postponed due to the extreme cold and snow in the area, as well as an MML meeting.

It could not be held Wednesday night just prior to the City Council meeting because the new date for the hearing has to be posted at least one week before the hearing, according to Joe Lauber, the City attorney.

“It doesn’t work that way to just move a public hearing then to the next meeting. We’ll actually need to re-notice the public hearing,” Lauber noted. So the new date for the hearing is now Monday, March 3.

The school district filed a petition with the City on Jan. 29 concerning the annexation request.

That was followed by a report from Acting City Administrator Matt Wirt concerning the City’s budget for fiscal year 2026.

Finance Director Jessica Pyle then gave Council an update on recent tax revenue collections.

She said that net sales and use tax is up nearly $850,000 over last fiscal year to date, or five percent.

“If you’ll remember, we budgeted a four percent increase in revenue last year, so we ahead in our budget by about $167,000,” Pyle told Council.

“Transportation tax is higher fiscal year to date. That’s due to a couple of factors – an increase in gasoline tax of 9.2 percent fiscal year to date and an increase in vehicle sales of 4.5 percent year to date. Vehicle fees are flat,” she said.

“Property tax payments we’ve collected so far this fiscal year is $175,000, which is more than the same period last year. And the majority of those received come in December and January, so that’s probably about where we’re going to sit for the rest of the fiscal year,” Plyer concluded.

Council then approved a request from a bicycle group to camp overnight in Liberty Park on Monday, June 2 and Monday, Oct. 6.

“Big Bikers Across Missouri” (Big BAM) will be cycling on the 240-mile Katy Trail and will arrive in Sedalia throughout Monday, camp out in Liberty Park and resume their trek on the tail early on that Tuesday morning.

The Sedalia Park Board already approved the request before it went to full Council. Overnight camping is normally prohibited in Sedalia Parks.

In 2024, Big BAM had about 175 people sign up for the six-day Katy Trail ride from Clinton to St. Charles June 1-7.

And at Liberty Park, tents were already set up by a crew and ready for an overnight stay when the bikers arrived. The bikers’ personal bags are trucked from one stop to the next and laid out on the ground for easy retrieval.

They stayed in Clinton the night before, stopped in Green Ridge for lunch, and the 175 bikers woke up to lighting, thunder and rain on Tuesday morning before traveling to Boonville.

Council then approved three zoning requests that had already been approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission Feb. 5.

The first request was submitted by W-K Business Realty for the rezoning of two vacant lots on the south side of Irene Circle. The request was to change from R-3 multi-family residential to M-1 light industrial.

The second request was submitted by Holland Holding Company LLC, to rezone a 2.15-acre vacant property at 521 East Third Street. The request was to change from M-2 heavy industrial to M-1 light industrial use.

The third request was submitted by Mary K. Beard MD, LLC, and involves the preliminary and final plat for the Liahona West Subdivision at 3605 West 12th Street. The proposed development consist of 16 lots and 32 residential living units on 4.5 acres. The area is zoned R-3 (for apartment houses).