I spent the first 11½ years of my life in Hanley Hills, a large subdivision which became a municipality (a village) in north central St. Louis County.
The village had a modest property tax but a lot of money came from cars. Each year every resident (except my dad) had to buy a colorful sticker for the inside right edge of their windshield. And, Hanley Hills was an early adopter of police radar.
Every street in the village, save Hanley Road, had a 20 mile per hour speed limit. Cars could do 30 mph on Hanley. The cadre of cops (most part time) would park in a shady spot, usually on a curve, with a silver radar unit stuck out the back driver side window. They seldom sat there for long. Thanks to traffic fines, they expanded the village hall. That building served as headquarters for the massive Easter Egg Hunt, Halloween Party and other events for the residents. It also proved to be a great place for traffic court.
If you’ve followed reports from Arch City Defenders and others, that tradition of north county ticket factories remained largely intact for another 45 years. As other sources of revenue dried-up, many villages and small towns counted more and more on ticket money.
Now, with new state law and public pressure, ticket revenue has been strung.
Don’t worry, St. Louis County government is coming to the rescue: Proposition P will pump tens of millions of dollars into the police industry in county municipalities.
Oh, I am not anti-police. I believe in well-trained, well-paid men and women fairly enforcing the law. I have friends in law enforcement and know many retired cops. I would not want to do their jobs.
Yet, I have two big problems with the April ballot measure in St. Louis County to raise $80 million a year for law enforcement.
First, about $34 million a year will be forwarded to municipalities. Yes, Hanley Hills and Clayton and Overland and every other county muni will get a decent sized slice of the pie. While some of the money will probably go to long-overdue raises and newer, better cop cars, a lot of it will subsidize the bad practices which caused so many problems for decades. And, in a bit of irony, the grants will actually allow many places to increase the number of tickets they can write and collect.
You see, county cities and villages can only have 12.5% of their budget from court fines. So, if you give Overland another million dollars for cops, that means they can keep an extra $125,000 in court revenue. Call it a “win –win.”
Second, well, sales taxes in all of St. Louis County are high with the rates already obscene in many places. The lowest current sales tax rate in the county is 7.113% on non-food items. Many places hit 9.113% and some shopping areas in Brentwood, Clayton and Maplewood charge 9.613%. Up in Bridgeton they have a location with a sales tax rate of 10.363%.
[ http://dor.mo.gov/pdf/rates/2017/apr2017.pdf ]
Stop the madness people! Sales taxes hurt working people and seniors harder than they do the rich.
[ http://www.itep.org/whopays/states/missouri.php ] As has been shown time and time again, the obsession with sales taxes – oft called a tax “other people” pay – sucks a tremendous amount of purchasing power out of peoples’ wallets.
Yes, this is a tax for a good cause: that’s what is said every time a new sales tax increase is proposed.
Nor will this be the last sales tax hike proposed. Rumbles about more pennies for mass transit, roads, education and all sorts of other needs are in the background. It is possible that we will soon look back at the “good old days” when sales taxes in St. Louis County were “just” a dime to the dollar.
This is not a new position for me. Back in the days of Missourians For Tax Justice, starting in the early 1990’s, I was one of many along with the late Pat Martin calling for at least a moratorium on new sales taxes…you can see how that worked out.
Okay, how do we get more money targeted for law enforcement? Here’s an old fashioned idea: raise the property tax.
Per the St. Louis County budget paperwork, the county raises about $99 million a year for its General Revenue off of its base property tax. [ http://www.stlouisco.com/Portals/8/docs/document%20library/budget/2017/Adopted/2017AdoptedBudgetBook.pdf ] The county levy is a drop in the bucket compared to school and municipal, fire district and other property taxes. The county could raise its levy a few cents and bring-in another $46 million. If Clayton or Overland wants more money for their cops, they can raise their property tax a tad. If towns with lower tax bases really need more money for police, well, then how about creating an audited, supervised grant program where they can apply for impact funds from the county?
No one likes higher taxes. Property taxes at least are more progressive than sales taxes. The owner of an estate in Huntleigh pays more than the seniors in a bungalow in Hanley Hills in property tax but they both pay the same amount in sales tax on a pack of tube socks at Target. I’m not talking about soaking the rich but a couple more drops on their Izod polo shirts won’t hurt.
I’m voting NO on Proposition P on April 4. I hope you consider saying no to higher sales taxes too.
Oh yes, why didn’t my dad have to buy a sticker for his windshield? The police asked him that question several times a year. The answer? Our only car was his “company car,” titled and registered through the company’s regional office in Columbia, Missouri. The car was available for him to use after work hours but it wasn’t his. The company sent Hanley Hills a form letter each year.
Submitted by Glenn Koenen, WCD Member
I call these “sneak-a-tax.” 1/2 cent here, utility surcharge there — it eventually adds up to, as Glenn points out, significant totals irregularly administered. A novel approach might be to allow Seniors and others who do not have children in school, to, by their choice, defer a percentage of their school tax assessment to a police fund.