Tax Increases, Service Cuts, Pension Headaches: Towns Give Dire Warnings on City-County Merger
Date Posted: February 28, 2019
Posted In: Discussion, Regionalism,
From St. Louis Business Journal: Webster Groves said it would lose $21.2 million in reserve funds, prompting property tax hikes.
The Police Retirement System of St. Louis said pensions could be placed in “jeopardy.”
Overland said it could be forced to dissolve.
Municipalities and others have for weeks complained about Better Together’s plan to merge the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County into a “metro city,” but new documents submitted to the state give a new level of specificity to the dire warnings.
The nonprofit, which will seek a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment in November 2020, this week submitted its fiscal impact statement on the plan to State Auditor Nicole Galloway, who must prepare a fiscal note on the initiative petition within 20 days of receiving it. Better Together said the plan would “conservatively” save local governments $4.9 billion over a decade. Pat Kelly, executive director of the Municipal League, which represents area municipalities, said Friday that Better Together’s estimates “don’t really show where any cost saving is going to come from.”
State and local government entities can also submit to Galloway estimates on the costs of the plan, and many wasted no time.
Hazelwood’s finance director, David Tuberty, wrote Wednesday that the North County city would lose $19.2 million in revenue annually under Better Together’s proposal, but only eliminate $14.6 million in expenses. The “net loss” to the city? Nearly $4.6 million, he said.