ST. LOUIS • The largest businesses in the region have collectively donated about $1 million for the campaign to build more trails, renovate parks and upgrade the Gateway Arch grounds, according to campaign finance reports filed this week.
Civic Progress, the nonprofit association of area chief executives, has been on a fundraising spree in recent months, gathering nearly $950,000 from area companies since December.
The group has, in turn, passed most of the donations to the pro-Proposition P campaign, which seeks to raise sales taxes in St. Louis and St. Louis County by about 2 cents on a $10 purchase.
Ward Klein, the chief executive of Energizer Holdings and president of Civic Progress, said Proposition P has been the business group’s top priority for two years.
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“We think they’re transformative projects, and very important to the region,” he said.
“Everyone loves the Arch and knows, after 50 years, it’s time to revitalize it.
Proposition P, on Tuesday’s ballot in the city and county, would boost sales taxes by 3/16 of one cent and raise about $780 million over the 20-year life of the tax.
Forty percent of the funds, or about $12.5 million in the first year, would stay in the city and county, to be used to maintain or expand parks. Thirty percent, or about $9.4 million, would go to the Great Rivers Greenway to expand its network of trails in the region.
The remaining third would be used to cover the public portion of the $380 million Arch grounds renovation.
The Arch proposal has garnered the most criticism.
Frank DeGraaf, who runs the blog Countondowntown.com, is among the critics who aren’t thrilled with the grounds design, think there hasn’t been enough public input, and don’t like the plans to remove Memorial Drive.
But he is most concerned with the use of local dollars to fund improvements on federal land.
“Do we really need to spend $380 million now on a national park?” he asked last week. “I think it just sends the wrong message.”
The St. Louis County Republican Central Committee has recently come out against the tax increase, as well, said committee chair Bruce Buwalda.
County residents, Buwalda said, will cover the lion’s share of the tax increase, by virtue of the county’s larger size. “People are tired of paying taxes,” Buwalda said.
Still, as is typical with April elections, the vote is expected to have low turnout and hinge on regular and impassioned voters, DeGraaf said — which likely means pro-parks supporters.
The campaign director, former Danforth Foundation President Peter Sortino, said he has what he needs to win.
Nearly 30 local companies have given to the campaign since December, including more than $100,000 from Edward Jones and $50,000 each from Enterprise, Emerson Electric, Anheuser-Busch InBev, Monsanto, Centene and Express Scripts.
The campaign committee, officially called Citizens for Safe and Accessible Arch and Public Parks Initiative, has spent about half of the total raised, according to this week’s filing with the Missouri Ethics Commission. The money has gone largely toward mailers, marketing and campaign advice.
Sortino, who worked on the successful campaign that raised the first 1/10-cent sales tax for Great Rivers Greenway in 2000, said his committee is targeting frequent voters and organizations with similar interests — groups interested in disabled-accessible parks, for instance, or land conservation.
David Hunn covers taxpayer spending on regional cultural institutions. Follow him on Twitter @davidhunn.
