Wildwood, Other Cities Hire Lobbyists to Represent Their Interests in the Sales Tax Debate

Wildwood city council members voted Monday to hire Jefferson City lobbyists to monitor the current legislative session for potential, new regulations that would change the St. Louis County sales tax distribution formula, otherwise called the pooled sales tax program.

What's at stake for Wildwood residents is that 45 percent of the city's general  revenues each year, or approximately $2.4 million annually, comes from how county sales tax proceeds are distributed. Under the current system, municipalities are divided into two camps:  point-of-sale, or “A” cities; and pool, or “B” cities. The “A” cities are required to share a portion of their 1-cent countywide sales tax revenues with both the “B” cities and St. Louis County on a per-capita basis. Under this system, the pool cities get $124 per person, annually.

St. Louis County municipalities have operated this way since 1993; however, city representatives in Fenton and Chesterfield, . Other city leaders pushed back, indicating it was not equitable to decimate so many cities' financial approach without proper, long-term planning.

This type of shared, or pooled, system was based on the concept that some cities intentionally would develop larger commercial centers that neighboring cities would tap and support. Conversely, those nearby cities bascially would focus more on being residentially oriented municipalities, not competing for the same businesses or services. In a nutshell, the system was designed to avoid duplicating businesses among cities close in proximities.

"Given the many attempts at various bills last year to drastically modify the sales tax system, and due to Wildwood being so critically connected to this revenue stream, we believe it is important to independently monitor how legislation related to this matter progresses," said City Administrator Dan Dubruiel.

Staffers at the lobbyist firm, R.J. Scherr & Associates, will represent the municipalities of Wildwood, Clarkson Valley, Webster Groves, University City, Florissant and Greendale combined, said Dubruiel. He said a seventh muncipality, Pine Lawn, also is considering joining this coalition.

City representatives are expecting to split the lobbying cost of $15,000, making Wildwood's portion not to exceed $3,375. Wildwood's share of costs will decrease to $3,250 if the seventh municipality joins the effort.

This is the same firm that monitored and reported on the situation during last year's legislative session when activity heated up regarding proposed changes in the shared pool tax system.

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Dubruiel said the lobbyists' scope would be to thwart legislative bills not in the cities' best interests and to to support those that are.

Council member Ron James, Ward 6, asked at Monday's city council meeting about potential legislation that was being worked on by the Municipal League of St. Louis. Dubruiel said State Rep. John Diehl Jr., District 87, is expected to introduce legislation favored by the League this Friday. "Wildwood believes it might be legislation the city could support," said Dubruiel. "So we'll have to see how strongly we want to endorse it."

St. Louis County's sales tax system also was posed as a major question at a . Rep. Don Gosen, District 84, said all variances should be addressed in the open, instead of in "backroom discussions."

"Will anything happen after it's all put out there, that's hard to say. I don't want to throw anyone under the bus with how it might be changed in the future," he said. "It's a concern that's been developing over a number of years. We do need to tweak the system."

As reported by Fenton-High Ridge Patch on March 14, State Rep. Mike Leara (R-St. Louis County) told a group at a Fenton Area Chamber of Commerce legislative update meeting that a bill he sponsored to rework St. Louis County's sales tax distribution system is "stalled in the House" and is not expected to be approved this year.