The task of getting regional approval for a sales tax increase to help fund improvements on and around the Gateway Arch grounds was never going to be easy. After all, this is St. Louis, notorious for its fractured government.
But to see the proposal run into problems even before it gets to voters is discouraging. The project is important but time is tight, and the various public and private entities working on the issue should redouble efforts to get it on the ballot.
The immediate problem is in St. Charles County. Voters there, as well those in the city and in St. Louis County, were to be asked on the April 2 ballot to approve a 3/16ths-cent increase in sales taxes for the next 20 years. If approved in all three jurisdictions, some $720 million would be raised over 20 years for the Arch grounds, to increase funding for the Great Rivers Greenway park and trail district and to support county and municipal parks.
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Legislation needed to put the measure on the ballot must be approved by Jan. 22. It is moving ahead in the city Board of Aldermen and the St. Louis County Council. But in St. Charles County, some officials are skeptical. The measure must be placed on the council’s agenda tonight if it is to be voted on at Monday’s council meeting, the last one scheduled before the Jan. 22 deadline.
The project could move ahead without St. Charles County’s help if St. Louis city and county voters approved. It is entirely possible, given anti-tax sentiment in heavily Republican St. Charles County, that the measure would fail even if it gets on the ballot. This editorial page has not taken a position on whether the parks tax should be approved — we like the idea but believe certain public accountability issues must be examined — but we think voters ought to be able to weigh in.
One key sticking point in St. Charles County is that no other federal, state or county issues are scheduled for a vote in April. There are municipal elections in various cities. The cost of holding those elections is borne by local jurisdictions.
County officials say it would cost county taxpayers about $200,000 to open all the polling places and add a countywide measure to the April 2 ballot as well. County officials have other reservations about the Arch/parks issue, some of which we share, but currently they cite budget stress as the poison pill.
County officials have suggested that the $200,000 election tab could be paid by Great Rivers Greenway District, which would have fiduciary responsibility for money raised by the Arch/parks tax. St. Charles County voters approved joining the GRG in 2000 and currently pay a 1/10th cent sale tax to help support the popular regional trails system. GRG would keep 30 percent of the Arch/parks revenue, enabling it to expand its efforts. Thirty percent would go to the Arch grounds project, from the riverfront west to Kiener Plaza. And 40 percent would be apportioned for parks in the city and the two counties.
Lawyers for the county and GRG have different views on whether the district legally can spend tax money to help a county hold an election. Does helping a measure get on a ballot amount to the kind of election “advocacy” forbidden by law?
We’d argue that it does not. Taxing jurisdictions do this every time they decide to put a revenue issue before voters. We’d argue that people of good faith, who are interested in the future of this region, should find a way to let St. Charles County voters decide if they want to play a role in the project. We’d suggest that they’d better hurry up.
