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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“The Post-Dispatch reports today that the city of Charlack is installing speed cameras along I-170 in near-north St. Louis County. The city is installing the camera on a state-owned bridge to give tickets for speeding on a federal/state highway. . . . The idea that the city will phase out the cameras once people drive more slowly is perhaps the most unbelievable statement I've heard a politician say in a long time. And who cares if they passed a budget that did not count on camera fines? All that means is that they can spend the money however they want once it starts flowing in.”

As of 2014, Charlack collected more than 20% of its total revenue from fines and fees.

But with the passage of SB 5, which caps Saint Louis County municipalities' fine revenue to 12.5% of general revenue, Charlack is in trouble. In fact, the Post-Dispatch recently reported that the city’s police force was on the verge of disbanding. The city council plans to vote on joining the North County Police Cooperative (with Vinita Terrace, Vinita Park, and Wellston).

Charlack is not alone in its predicament. As of 2014, 24 of Saint Louis County’s 90 municipalities collected more than 12.5% of their general revenue from fines and fees. And while some can continue to provide services despite the reduction in fine revenue, many cannot. They will have to combine services such as policing in order to survive.

The good news is that sharing policing and other public services among cities is far from unprecedented in Saint Louis County. An example of pooling services is the aforementioned North County Police Cooperative. But in addition to that group, 17 municipalities contract with Saint Louis County, and a further 16 contract with another city for police, as shown in the map above.

When municipalities combine police services (especially with the County government), they can save money, improve services, and reduce incentives to use policing as a method of generating revenue. Charlack’s move towards disbanding may be long overdue, but it is another sign of the positive impact SB 5’s reforms are having. As the Charlack’s mayor put it:

“With Sentate Bill 5 passing, we knew it was going to be inevitable, and instead of it taking the next six months to figure out, we said, ‘Let’s just do it now and everybody can have a Merry Christmas…’ ”

Let’s hope that other municipalities follow Charlack’s example—because the more, the merrier.

The post Under Pressure from SB 5, Charlack May Disband Police Force appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

                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.  

The post Pine Lawn Considers Disbanding Their Police Department appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Petty fines landing people in jail.

Budgets propped up by speed traps.

Rigged traffic lights that deceive motorists.

It’s clear that many of these cities use law enforcement more for profit than for protection. But change may finally be coming. State law is about to make it more difficult for municipalities to use police as tax collectors. Rather than double down and fight change, cities should decide how they can reduce their burden on taxpayers. Some might help everyone by going away.

Until this year, the state government failed to enforce a law—known as the Macks Creek Law—that was supposed to limited how much a city could rely on traffic fines. Reports of cities ignoring those limits date back to the late 1990s, but nothing was done. That has changed with the passage of Senate Bill 5. That bill, now signed into law, will strengthen the provisions of Macks Creek Law by lowering the amount of general revenue that can come from traffic fines to 15 percent in Saint Louis County. As for teeth, there are regular reporting requirements, and cities that do not comply will face disincorporation votes.

These changes spell trouble for many smaller cities in Saint Louis County. Twenty-seven North County municipalities have fewer than 3,000 residents, and seven have fewer than 500. Few taxpayers and increasing levels of poverty have pushed these cities to use traffic fines and other fees to stay solvent. More than a dozen of these municipalities get more than 20 percent of their total revenue from fines and court fees.

Disincorporation is a solution to the problem. There is precedent for disincorporation in Saint Louis County, most recently with scandal-ridden Saint George. Essential services, like the police, are now provided by Saint Louis County. Last year, Uplands Park held a vote on disincorporation that almost won the required supermajority.

Another solution is for cities to reduce costs by combining services. Most cities already rely on pooled services for water, power, education, and fire protection. It would not be a stretch for more cities to combine police forces or other essential services. For example, Saint Louis County already provides police for 18 municipalities. That saves money and provides localities with better-trained officers. And unlike some municipal-specific police forces, the county police do not have the same incentive to write tickets for revenue collection purposes.

Instead of turning over policing to the county, some municipalities are integrating police forces amongst themselves, with the recent example of Vinita Park and Wellston. While this in theory saves resources, residents could be stuck with the same revenue-generating practices if cities get rid of their own ticket-oriented police forces only to contract with another city that uses the same questionable practices. For example, Breckenridge expressed interest in contracting police service from Saint Ann, which has gained a reputation for using I-70 like an ATM.

Now that Senate Bill 5 is law, many municipalities are going to have to start making hard choices about whether they can continue to provide necessary services or whether they can continue at all. Residents should consider whether their towns—like Jennings, Wellston, Black Jack, and many others—can reduce spending and combine services. It may be that the best option for residents, and the region, is simply to disincorporate.

The post Time to Reform Fine-Reliant Cities appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Normandy is only provisionally accredited; its student MAP scores are better than Wellston’s, but not by much. Normandy has shown admirable willingness to accept new students; however, it hasn’t demonstrated that it can provide a significantly better education than Wellston did.

If Wellston students were given a choice, some might wish to attend Normandy, and others would probably prefer other schools. It’s too bad that the board assigned everyone to a single district and did not allow the students and their families to make the decision.

Wellston students are left with one option besides Normandy: They can attend the St. Louis Public Schools’ Virtual School.

The post State School Board Votes to Close Wellston 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.         

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