Each of these nine local libraries has its own local property tax. The residents of these nine systems pay this tax — not the county libarary tax. All nine have higher tax rates than the county system, which is 15 cents per hundred dollars of assessed valuation. The attached article has the tax rates, although I know University City’s rate has decreased significantly since this list was put together, and others may have as well. The difference in tax rates is pretty small in real terms, but it’s there. So, finally, I am getting to my point …

Should these nine municipal libraries merge into the county system, as former library districts in Clayton and Florissant did decades ago? Let’s take them each as they come. University City, Webster Groves, Kirkwood, and Ferguson are four of the larger municipalitites in St. Louis County, and as such are capable of supporting entities — such as libraries, and more — on their own. I have been to three of those four buildings, and each is very impressive, with a substantial collection. While all may be close to existing county system libraries, I really don’t see any gains for any of the above four cities in consolidating their library systems with the county’s. The tax savings would be very small, and the residents of these four communities like having their own, wonderful libraries.

Now let’s take Brentwood, Richmond Heights, and Maplewood. Each of these is a much smaller town, but all are known for one set of things, tax-wise: retail shopping and sales tax dollars. All three have very low property tax rates — just above the county rate — and all three have low property taxes in general, because sales tax revenues fund most of city government. Not coincidentally, with the tremendous retail growth in all three cities during the past decade, all three have new library buildings for their residents.  Maplewood, in particular, is not close to any existing county libraries, although parts of Richmond Heights and Brentwood are not far. I don’t see any real gains or reasons for consolidation for any of these three systems.  The current tax system favors all three of them and the local libraries are easily well-supported.

This brings us to Rock Hill and Valley Park. They are the two smallest cities listed, and Rock Hill has by far the highest tax rate. Valley Park is close to exising county libraries, while Rock Hill is not. (My guess is that families want to be able to make a very short drive or walk in order to get to the libaray, and distances that would be fine for most things are too far for the library.)

Rock Hill is well-known for its recent financial difficulties — although things are improving, thanks (and I use that term very loosely) to retail projects brought about by eminent domain. Nonetheless, Rock Hill’s residents would benefit from the large tax cut. With Valley Park’s small population and low tax rate, I have to wonder about the quality of their library (which I admit I’ve never been to).

Final recommendation: Valley Park should dissolve its library system and enter the county system. Rock Hill should also dissolve its system and attempt to join Webster Groves’ or Brentwood’s system. If that does not work, Rock Hill should join the county system also. The other seven municipal systems should remain as they are. Now go read some books!

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Now, because the Hanson family allowed neighbors and friends to remove some fixtures (wood, doors, etc.) from the home before they were forced to vacate it, Rock Hill is suing the Hanson family for a half-million dollars in damages!!! The important thing to note here is that the house was scheduled to be torn down by Novus!!! Novus had plans to demolish the entire house, and indeed did demolish it in January, before which the Hansons sold some of the home’s fixtures, donating the money to Habitat for Humanity. In the interest of clarity, Rock Hill did own the home at the time the Hansons sold the fixtures. Nobody denies that, but to sue for a half-million dollars is unjustifiable, in my opinion, for a house that was set to be demolished.

In my opinion, this is truly one of the most abusive lawsuits I have ever heard of. Here is the petition for the lawsuit, which may be nothing more than a bullying attempt by Novus and Rock Hill to get the Hansons to drop their ongoing request for a jury trial to determine the fair value of their seized home. No matter what, it is an outrageous example of the serious problems with eminent domain laws in our state.

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St. George has a population of 1,288. While very small, there are many smaller municipalities in the county. The city itself is funded in three primary ways: property taxes (very low) on residences, a share of sales tax money from the county sales tax pool, and speeding tickets. The speeding tickets are the real rub, as they are what allow the city’s property taxes to be so low, thereby removing any incentive for the citizens of St. George to disincorporate.

There are a number of cities in St. Louis County that are able to exist financially largely through speeding tickets. Rock Hill is probably the most well-known example, but St. George is right at the top of the list. The fact that Missouri is the national leader in fixing (or "amending," in legalese) tickets is part of the story — the fines go up, but the points and insurance don’t, so nobody really complains that much when they get a b.s. ticket in Rock Hill or St. George, or wherever.

The state passed a good law a few years back limiting the total amount that a city could get from tickets as a portion of its total budget. Perhaps that limit should be lowered further, and as property taxes go up in the affected tiny municipalities, people might get serious about consolidation or disincorporation. For now, though, just be careful when driving on McKnight/Rock Hill Rd. As the officer says, the limit is 7 mph over, or 10 on holidays.

The post St. George Police Officer in Trouble … St. George??? appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

"Browne said he met with residents to determine why they hadn’t signed contracts to sell their properties and learned they wanted more money."

How dare they!!!  In America of all places!  Who do these people think they are trying to get the most money possible for their investment?  So what does the very sinkable Mr. Browne do?  Negotiate further?  Counteroffer?  Reason with them?  Of course not.  This is 2007, so his first choice is:

"Novus President Jonathan Browne had said his company needed an additional $7 million in tax incentives."

Go to the city and demand more money from taxpayers!  Wisely, the Rock Hill Board of Alderman has rejected this shameless demand.  Now bids are again being considered to redevelop the northwest corner of Rock Hill aka McKnight and Manchester.  Whatever the new plan is, I hope the incredibly succesfull restaurant stays.  As for other possible tenants, I can think of one company that would be absolutely perfect there.      

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In order to keep Rock Hill as part of their own dispatching service, Brentwood raised taxes by $56,000 to cover the cost of the lower bid!  Mayor Kelly (Brentwood) is one of the best mayors in St. Louis County, but he needs to ditch the dispatch and both Brentwood and Rock Hill should join East Central Dispatch faster than an ambulance can make it from St. Mary’s to South Webster.  Although with the coming I-64/40 work, maybe they should do it faster than that.    

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What does every city with a recent eminent domain controversy in Saint Louis County have in common? They are all “point-of-sale” cities, which keep the majority of sales taxes they collect under the County’s complicated sales tax distribution formula. Legislation has been introduced in Jefferson City that would exacerbate the problem. It would change the way sales taxes are distributed in Saint Louis County and revert back to the system that existed prior to 1994, which would have even greater potential for eminent-domain abuse. Abandoning the so-called “Westfall Plan” would be a mistake with serious repercussions for economic development.

In the early 1990s, Buzz Westfall and the County Council addressed the inequities in the collection and dispersion of sales taxes within Saint Louis County. At the time, cities with significant retail had their own sales taxes and kept all of the money. After difficult negotiations, a compromise was reached and Saint Louis County now has a countywide sales tax and a shared tax pool with point-of-sale, (or “A”) and “pool” (or “B”) cities. A cities keep the majority of their sales taxes but are required to share a portion with the pool. The rest of the county turns over all the sales taxes they collect to the pool, which is then redistributed to the B cities, which includes unincorporated Saint Louis County, based on population. Not surprisingly, A cities tend to be places with significant retail while the B cities have limited retail or large populations. The proposed legislation would end this system in 2008, allowing A cities to again keep all of the sales tax money they collect.

The current system acknowledges the fact that most shoppers going to the Galleria don’t live in Richmond Heights. It also benefits the business environment in our area by rewarding non-retail economic development. If Webster Groves attracts a new corporate headquarters, that would clearly generate significant new sales taxes for the area based on the new jobs and employees brought to the region. Why should a neighboring A city with significant shopping, such as Brentwood, keep all of the sales taxes generated within Brentwood by the new employees of that Webster Groves company? Eliminating the pool contributions of A cities would further press all cities to search for ways to increase sales taxes and grow retail development at the expense of other modes of the economy, such as finance and manufacturing, which generate the salaries used to go shopping in the first place.

That pressure to increase the retail economy, as opposed to other types of development, is one of the main reasons behind the eminent domain abuses we have seen in recent years in Saint Louis County. It is not a coincidence that all of the controversial eminent domain actions in Saint Louis County have occurred in A cities such as Sunset Hills, Manchester, Rock Hill and Clayton. Residential areas such as the one at issue in Sunset Hills have more tax value to B cities, where a city’s population is a significant factor in the amount received from the pool.

The argument in favor of allowing A cities to keep all of the sales tax would be stronger if those cities were responsible for all the infrastructure that supported the development. However, the primary shopping areas are, for obvious reasons, located along major roadways. Those roadways are usually state or county roads that taxpayers throughout Saint LouisCounty pay to maintain, not just the municipalities they run through. There are other examples, such as fire department mutual aid agreements, that demonstrate the interconnected nature of local government in Saint Louis County and argue for keeping the current sales tax pool distribution system.

In the interest of property owners, the contributions of A cities to the sales tax pool should be maintained. All types of industry and commerce benefit our community, not just retail sales outlets. If anything, the pool should be expanded further so that all cities would benefit from development throughout the county, not just within their own borders. The current system helps to relieve the pressure on local governments to constantly generate more sales tax dollars by any means necessary and preserve the property rights so central to the rights of free people.

David Stokes is a writer living in University City.

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The current system acknowledges the fact that most shoppers going to the Galleria don’t live in Richmond Heights. It also benefits the business environment in our area by rewarding non-retail economic development. If Webster Groves attracts a new corporate headquarters, that would clearly generate significant new sales taxes for the area based on the new jobs and employees brought to the region. Why should a neighboring A city with significant shopping, such as Brentwood, keep all of the sales taxes generated within Brentwood by the new employees of that Webster Groves company? Eliminating the pool contributions of A cities would further press all cities to search for ways to increase sales taxes and grow retail development at the expense of other modes of the economy, such as finance and manufacturing, which generate the salaries used to go shopping in the first place.

That pressure to increase the retail economy, as opposed to other types of development, is one of the main reasons behind the eminent domain abuses we have seen in recent years in Saint Louis County. It is not a coincidence that all of the controversial eminent domain actions in Saint Louis County have occurred in A cities such as Sunset Hills, Manchester, Rock Hill and Clayton. Residential areas such as the one at issue in Sunset Hills have more tax value to B cities, where a city’s population is a significant factor in the amount received from the pool.

It’s a great article, so you should click here to read the whole thing.

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