ST. LOUIS • City voters in April will navigate through a long list of bond and tax proposals, with a menu spanning schools, stormwater and new fire equipment.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ school district will ask for a property tax hike to raise money for educational programs and salaries. The Metropolitan ºüÀêÊÓƵ Sewer District is floating two propositions for ºüÀêÊÓƵ and ºüÀêÊÓƵ County voters involving wastewater and stormwater funding. City Hall will ask voters whether they should continue the city’s 1 percent earnings tax while asking approval for a $25 million bond issue for fire and infrastructure improvements.
On Tuesday, the deadline to get propositions on the April 5 ballot, the Board of Aldermen approved ballot language for the $25 million proposal. Comptroller Darlene Green says the initiative would not involve a tax increase.
About half of the proposed $25 million would go to the fire department for new equipment and building improvements. The rest would go to other city building repairs, refuse trucks, bridges, the municipal garage and recreational centers.
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Voters rejected a much larger $180 million bond issue last August. The new, smaller bond proposal would cover just a fraction of the $114 million in projects identified by the city as critical capital needs — something that could potentially confuse voters if the city seeks a larger bond issue later.
Also on Tuesday, Mayor Francis Slay signed a bill that would put the fate of the long-standing 1 percent earnings tax before voters. The tax has been controversial in Jefferson City, where lawmakers are considering several bills to repeal it. Regardless, a state law requires city voters to reconsider the tax every five years. Voters last did so in 2011.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ leaders had pledged to become less reliant on the tax, but they have failed to do so. The tax makes up 33 percent of the city’s annual general fund budget. Five years ago, it made up 31 percent.
“This is an election that should bring every city voter to the polls,†Slay said. “It’s that important.â€
Some leaders have worried that having so many propositions before voters could confuse them, possibly threatening the earnings tax, although it passed in 2011 with an 88 percent approval rate.
That comes as the Special Administrative Board, which oversees ºüÀêÊÓƵ’ public schools, voted Tuesday to put a property tax increase of 75 cents per $100 in assessed value on the April 5 ballot. The measure would generate about $27.8 million annually.
It’s the first time since 1991 that the board has requested a permanent property tax increase.
According to ballot language filed with the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Board of Election Commissioners, the revenue generated by the tax would go toward early childhood education, the expansion of character and alternative education options, the improvement of safety and security personnel and more competitive salaries for teachers and staff.
The 75-cent tax increase would mean an additional $142.50 a year for the owner of a $100,000 home.
For several months, Superintendent Kelvin Adams has acknowledged to city teachers and staff that he and the board wanted to pay them more, but budgetary constraints weren’t allowing for much in the way of raises. Teachers protested at board meetings throughout the fall about the toll that multiple years of no raise or step increase was having on their personal lives.
As a result, teachers depart ºüÀêÊÓƵ schools for other districts that pay more, causing instability in classrooms across the city.
The district hired Charlene Jones, a political science professor at Harris-Stowe State University and former district administrator, to develop, coordinate and supervise the tax campaign at a cost of $60,000.
Meanwhile, MSD is offering two propositions.
The first, Proposition Y, deals with wastewater. The proposal, which will be before voters in ºüÀêÊÓƵ and ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, gives an option to use a $900 million bond issue to fund improvements required under a 2012 federal consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“The bonds allow the advantage of a smaller rate increase in the near term, but interest paid in the long term,†said MSD spokesman Lance LeComb. “It’s a choice of how we pay for it.â€
The proposal would raise residential sewer bills by about 11 percent a year, bringing the average bill to about $61 per month by 2020. The average monthly bill in 2016 is about $41. If voters don’t approve the bonds, the average increase will be steeper, taking bills to about $95 in 2020.
Another more complicated issue, Proposition S, involves MSD’s stormwater funding method.
Currently, customers pay different rates and get different levels of service based on where they live. MSD, which covers ºüÀêÊÓƵ and 80 percent of ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, is asking voters to have one stormwater tax structure for all customers and, thereby, provide everyone with the same level of stormwater service, regardless of where they live.
If approved, customers living in mid-ºüÀêÊÓƵ County along the Interstate 170 beltway would see their property tax burden fall by an average of $22. In ºüÀêÊÓƵ, tax bills would increase by an average of 72 cents. And in areas of western ºüÀêÊÓƵ County past the I-270 beltway, property tax bills would increase by an average of $47.
Elisa Crouch of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.