March 2014 Message from the Mayor
As the saying goes, Spring has sprung and we are looking forward to another year of recreational activities provided by our outstanding Parks and Recreation Division. Speaking of which, I would like to commend and congratulate our Staff for the successful application and award of a $272,000 grant for development and improvement of our newly acquired “River’s Edge Park”, located adjacent to the Monarch-Chesterfield Levee Trail, behind the Taubman Prestige Outlets. As a reminder, now is the time to renew your membership in our Dog Park and secure a plot in our Community Garden.
HELP US HELP YOU!
As I contemplate what the most important and timely topic is for this issue of our quarterly newsletter, I would like to reiterate how fortunate and unique Chesterfield is and has become as a community within which to live, recreate and do business. The history of our incorporation, the flood and the resultant recovery/development is truly remarkable and mind-boggling to me.
In spite of our successes, we face a huge challenge which has to do with the redistribution of our sales taxes throughout St. Louis County. As I described and outlined in the previous newsletter, the current sales tax system mandates that Chesterfield only receives 6.5% of sales tax dollars generated within our community from the recently opened Outlet Malls. This paltry and unfair distribution is not nearly enough revenue to pay for the additional expenses that our City has incurred. In a more conventional and traditional system which, by the way, is currently enjoyed by many other cities in St. Louis County and ALL cities throughout the rest of Missouri, our City would receive 100% of this additional tax revenue. Therefore, we are asking for help from our state legislators to fix this unfair, outdated tax system. For your information, we are currently projecting that we will lose approximately 57% of the taxes we generate within Chesterfield to the St. Louis County Sales Tax Pool for redistribution to the County and other cities.
I am asking a favor of each resident and business owner in Chesterfield. That favor is to write a letter, send an e-mail or make a phone call THANKING our State Representatives and State Senators for their consideration and assistance in fixing this problem with the St. Louis County “Pool” Tax. Your participation is extremely timely, because this legislative session concludes in mid-May. If a large number of Chesterfield residents show their concern regarding this issue, it will assist those legislators committed to helping us solve this problem.
The address for each legislator is their name, followed by their room number, at 201 West Capitol Avenue, Jefferson City, Missouri 65101. Their e-mail addresses are first name.last name@house.mo.gov or first name.last name@senate.mo.gov. Thanks to the last re-districting, Chesterfield is now crisscrossed by no less than SIX State Representative districts and THREE State Senate districts. As a result, I would suggest that you contact, and thank for their consideration, EACH of the following STATE REPRESENTATIVES: Sue Allen, Room 303A; John Diehl, Room 302A; Don Gosen, Room 413B; Sue Meredith, Room 103BB; Bill Otto, Room 116-2; and, Jill Schupp, Room 101B; and the following STATE SENATORS: John Lamping, Room 426; Brian Nieves, Room 423; and Eric Schmitt, Room 320.
I realize this is an unusual request, but I think it is worthy of your time and consideration. Many years ago, the Missouri state legislature created this outdated and antiquated tax system and applied it only to St. Louis County cities. Accordingly, it will require today’s state legislators to fix it. This is the reason I am asking for your help, in order that Chesterfield can receive a more fair distribution of the tax dollars which are currently generated within our City. If you have any questions regarding this matter please contact one of your City Councilmembers or me directly. Thank you for your help!
For a more detailed explanation of the disparity of the Sales Tax Pool, please refer to the Mayor’s Message in the Chesterfield Citizen from December 2013, which can be found under the Publications section of our web site chesterfield.mo.us/chesterfield-citizen.html