As we’ve discussed many times before, small municipalities in Saint Louis County (and especially North Saint Louis County) have too often relied on traffic fines to run their municipalities. Residents, the press, and the federal government have all accused cities in this region of using police to generate revenue rather than focusing solely on public safety. Since the 1990s, Missouri has capped the amount to which a city can benefit from traffic fees, but lack of enforcement meant the law (known as the Macks Creek Law) was often ignored. A prime offender was Pine Lawn, which, before events in Ferguson put a spotlight on the region, collected as much as half of its general revenue from fines.

Pine Lawn’s decision to disband its police force is just the latest domino to fall following the passage of SB 5 in the Missouri legislature last year. That piece of legislation both tightens restrictions from the old Macks Creek law and provides real teeth for that law’s enforcement. Failing to keep fines and fees below 12.5% of general revenue can now lead to disincorporation in Saint Louis County. More and more cities, and now Pine Lawn, are deciding to pool resources or contract out policing.

Combining police forces offers the prospect of saving money for a city, and it can mean better service too. Larger police forces can pay officers more and attract better talent. Their training is often more extensive. And that’s something Pine Lawn can use, as their police department has had its fair share of scandal in recent years.

Pine Lawn’s decision to turn policing over to the North County Police Cooperative, rather than Saint Louis County, may be a cause for concern. The Cooperative is very new, and is unproven as of now. However, Pine Lawn’s officials say that it was the best offer they received, and if the service does not work for them, they can end the contract in six months’ time. That flexibility—the option to get rid of an entire government department in six months if it is not functioning properly—is a situation residents in other cities can only envy.  

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                While the process through which the city is considering such a change has created considerable controversy, there is little doubt that Pine Lawn is in serious need of reform. The city been a posterchild of civic dysfunction, with a former mayor indicted for corruption, irregularities in city expenditures, and a highly criticized criminal justice system that uses poorly trained officers to fund the city through citations. Specifically addressing the last point, a report from Better Together showed that as of 2013 Pine Lawn relied on fines and fees for almost 50% of its general revenue, making it one of the worst offenders of the Macks Creek Law (which capped fines to 30% of general revenue) in Saint Louis County:

                As we’ve written previously, until last this year the Macks Creek Law was regularly ignored and was without enforcement provisions. But with the passage of SB 5 in the last legislative session, things have changed. Cities like Pine Lawn can now collect no more than 12.5% of their general revenue via fines and fees. There are now regular reporting requirements, and failure to comply triggers a disincorporation vote.

                These new legal provisions spell trouble for the status quo in Pine Lawn. Instead of a cash cow, their police force is likely to become a financial burden. That has pushed Pine Lawn and cities like it to do what they should have done a long time ago: join with the county or other cities to provide cost-effective and professional policing.  

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Of the cities named in the lawsuit, only four (Bellerive Acres, Moline Acres, Normandy, and Vinita Terrace) were sued for actually exceeding the 30 percent cap. The other cities have been cited for failing to meet reporting requirements or using improper methods of recording fees as a percentage of revenue. For example, one city divided the fines it received in six months by total revenue for the entire year, in what appears a very ham-fisted attempt to show compliance with the law. The chart below, with data from Better Together, shows the portion of revenue from fines that each city named in the lawsuit collects.

This lawsuit may be a step in the right direction, but it is only one step. As we pointed out in a previous blog post, there are at least five other cities not listed in this lawsuit that have more than 30 percent of their revenue coming from fines and fees. Among these are Calverton Park and Bella Villa, which collect more than 50 percent of their revenue from fines. These municipalities may be within the law, but state confirmation of this seems prudent.

Furthermore, many cities in Saint Louis County, while perhaps not in violation of the law, are still collecting very large portions of their revenue through fines. Twelve municipalities, mostly in North Saint Louis County, collect between 20 and 30 percent of their revenue from fines. In most municipalities, this percentage is less than 15 percent. The state could lower the cap on fines in the Macks Creek Law to further protect state residents from law enforcement acting as tax collectors.

But as the current situation demonstrates, it matters little if fines are capped at 30 percent, 25 percent, or 15 percent of general revenue if the state does not enforce existing law. The state clearly has not done this in the past, and without the tragic events in North Saint Louis County and subsequent scrutiny of city policing tactics, who knows how long it would have taken for Macks Creek Law to be enforced? The state could benefit from a more systematic, not crisis driven, approach to statutory oversight.

The post Enforcing Macks Creek Law: Progress in Saint Louis County appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

This map shows the amount of revenue from fines and fees the many small municipalities of North Saint Louis County collect per resident. While many collect amounts similar to Saint Louis City and larger municipalities in the county, some collect much more. As the map shows, Edmundson, Calverton Park, Normandy, Pine Lawn, Vinita Terrace, and Beverly Hills collect more than $300 in fines per resident annually. See more of our writings on municipality fines and fees here.

The post Map Series: I. North Saint Louis Municipalities Fines per Resident appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The largest portion of these fines usually comes from traffic violations and related penalties. But a state law, known as the Macks Creek law, is supposed to cap traffic fines to 30 percent of a municipality’s operating revenue. Fines in excess of 30 percent are to be redirected to schools, and failure to comply can result in suspension of local traffic jurisdiction. While this cap should arguably be lower, the state should first enforce the cap that already exists. But proper enforcement within Saint Louis County may be lacking.

As the chart above demonstrates, eight municipalities within Saint Louis County collect more than 30 percent of their revenue from fines, and in some cases much more. These cities may not be in violation of the Macks Creek law if much of their fine revenue is from non-traffic-related citations. However, all eight cities are home to notorious speed traps and have small populations from which to generate non-traffic citations. For instance, Calverton Park, Bella Villa, and Pine Lawn would need to issue more than $200 of non-traffic-related fines per resident in order to comply with the Macks Creek law. That seems unlikely.

That is perhaps why Bella Villa, Pine Lawn, and Saint Ann (along with Ferguson and six municipalities outside of Saint Louis County) are having their municipal courts audited by the state to ensure that they are “about justice and not revenue.” That may be a hard case for those cities to make.

The post Saint Louis Municipalities: Who Is in Trouble With Macks Creek Law? appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Carroll’s term would have ended April 2014. According to Missouri statute (RSMo 162.492.7), “Vacancies which occur on the school board… shall be filled by special election if such vacancy happens more than six months prior to the time of holding an election…” Carroll’s resignation was accepted on Sept. 25 with more than six months remaining. (In fact, it was tendered much earlier and appeared online Sept. 7.) It took an additional two weeks for Board Chairman Airick West to notify state authorities per state law, finally doing so on Oct. 11. On Oct. 22, the Missouri State Board of Education approved a special election to fill the vacancy.

In a Nov. 1 letter to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), KCMSD attorney Ray Sousley attempted to explain the confusion:

The last day for a candidate to be qualified to be on the November, 2013 ballot was August 27, 2013, and the ballot had to be certified on August 29, 2013. Because those dates had been missed when the verbal resignation was given, I think there was a misconception by the Board that we would not need to hold an election…

He continues by saying the district wants to avoid a costly election. But DESE doesn’t buy any of it. On Nov. 18, DESE certified the election in accordance with state law — a special election is to be held.

What about Sousley’s statement that the school board didn’t understand a special election was necessary? It is empirically untrue. The podcast of the Sept. 25 meeting includes the following discussion about Carroll’s resignation and replacement:

Board Member Marisol Montero: “So after–if it gets accepted, which I’m sure it will, the letter goes to the school board of education and then from there are we having a special election to replace the term that Ms. Carroll has left, six months?”
Board Chairman Airick West: “That is up to the determination of the state board as to the statute. We’ll accept this and send them a letter. If they determine that is within the parameters of state statute… they will make the determination.”

The Board knew exactly what was required, but they dragged their feet to avoid following state law. Now they think they can just re-vote and avoid a special election altogether. But not everyone will go along. Montero voted ‘no’ on Dec. 18 to this proposed do-over, expressing concern about the possibility of violating state law.

The KCMSD is one of the wealthiest in Missouri. It is ambitious, wanting to expand into pre-kindergarten care. But it also is failing to improve meaningful academic standards for accreditation and, apparently, struggling with managing the day-to-day legal requirements of the board.

The post Kansas City School Board Member Resigns … Twice? appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Politicians and policemen coming. The nanny state has its official new dawn. This August I saw the traffic stops. Seat-belt checkpoints in Pine Lawn.

Gotta just face and accept it. Red-light tickets being sent in the mail. Should have used cameras long ago.

Speed cameras placed on the Inner Belt. Seat-belt traffic stops in the towns. You’re under surveillance, didn’t you know?

In most of Missouri, the police are not authorized to use a seat-belt violation as the primary reason for pulling you over. The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), should stick to doing what they do well — and it does a number of things well. That doesn’t include using tax dollars as part of an argument to limit our freedom. However, St. Louis County has had the audacity wisdom to enact its own primary seat-belt law, along with bike helmet laws and any other excuse they can find to protect us from ourselves.

So, that is the state of liberty in St. Louis County. We can get stuck in a seat-belt checkpoint any time the police in some tiny municipality feel the need.

(Just to be clear, attempting to run over a policeman is not an appropriate form of civil disobedience, and the shooting itself appears to be entirely justified.)

The post Shooting at a Seat-Belt Checkpoint … I Repeat, a Seat-Belt Checkpoint appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Personally, I think sagging is uncongenial, representing the antithesis of a gentleman. Despite my views, I believe that government does not have the right to enforce family values by acting like the fashion police. Besides being difficult to implement and patrol, this policy is also unconstitutional. There are many forms of expression that are not protected by the First Amendment, such as fighting words, libel, commercial speech, and obscenity. While some try to place sagging under the umbrella of obscenity, it would be relevant to put it through the “Miller Test,” which is the standard for determining whether material is obscene. In the 1973 case of Miller v. California, the Supreme Court ruled that material is legally obscene if:

1. The average person, applying contemporary community standards, would conclude that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to prurient interests.
2. It depicts sexually explicit conduct, specifically defined by law, in a patently offensive manner.
3. It lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

I believe tha sagging passes the ‘Miller Test’ with flying colors. For young people who are part of our country’s inner-city hip hop culture, it is a form of rebellion and identity. To some, it is just plain fashionable. This ordinance in Pine Lawn is just another example of how our liberty and freedom of expression are in danger today.

Other cities around the country, most recently Flint, Mich., are also taking stride to incorporate the same ordinance in their efforts to restore family values and ethics. I do applaud the importance of ethics in American society, but how ethical is it for government to deny our freedom of expression?

The post The Fashion Police appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

I don’t know much about the pros and cons of police using golf carts, but I was surprised by this article about what police are using them for in Pine Lawn. Giving people tickets because their pants are too low? And parents could end up in jail for three months if their 16-year-old-or-younger kids wear the offending style?

My first reaction to this was that maybe they have nothing else to worry about in Pine Lawn. The article mentions gunshots and a chase, though, so that can’t be right. And violent crime must scare businesses away at least as much as low pants. (The ostensible reason for the pants ordinance is to bring businesses to the city.)

If Pine Lawn wants to attract more economic activity, it should crack down on real crimes — not fashion crimes.

The post “The Clothes Make the Man” appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Normandy Police Chief Douglas Lebert said the stretch of Natural Bridge through Pine Lawn, Uplands Park and Beverly Hills didn’t appear to have a major problem with alcohol-related accidents. "I would say that the lack of solid crash data and the fact that they’re not concerned with the business owners’ perspective on this leads me to believe that it’s policing for profit, not policing to try to solve a problem," Lebert said last week.

Abuse of the law in issuing and enforcing traffic tickets is one of the most real and obvious examples of the problems with so many tiny municipalities in St. Louis County. Either police in small cities care about safety more than the police in larger cities and unincorporated St. Louis County, or the police in small cities are enforcing traffic laws for the purpose of funding government, rather than promoting safety. The answer is obviously the latter. The existing state laws that cap the percentage of funds any one city can raise from traffic fines needs to be tightened further. The notion of using government police powers to fund government itself is noxious. And, yes, forfeiture laws at higher levels of government are also a conflict.

If the state lowered the percentage of funds a tiny city is allowed to raise through traffic fines, those cities would have to get their money elsewhere or else disincorportate/merge. Since the primary means of acquiring additional revenue would involve raising property taxes, it would not take long before the citizens of the Uplands Parks and St. Georges of Missouri would force their cities to strongly consider either merging or dissolution.

The post Tiny Little Cities and Policing for Profit appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Back to the radio consortium.  In the interest of their citizens, these five cities, and many others in the near-north area, should follow this small example and either merge into one municipality or, better yet, disincorporate entirely and let St. Louis County provide all these services to the residents of this area for less tax money than they currently pay.  For small, poor cities, disincorporation is a true win-win situation, but it will still never happen ’cause the police chiefs and mayors like their jobs to much.         

The post Radio Free North County appeared first on Show-Me Institute.