The Cost of Fragmentation

This is the first in a series of reports resulting from Better Together’s study of General Administration in the St. Louis City and County region. ^[1] It will serve as an introductory overview of the operation and cost of St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and the 90 municipal governments in St. Louis County. The information and statistical data provided in this initial report will serve as the basis for additional reports that, together, will offer a comprehensive look at how local governments in the St. Louis region operate and at what cost. Public Administration is the planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling of government operations. More specifically, this report will focus on government operations and the costs associated with those operations.

The data upon which Better Together’s study of general administration is based came through a request for records. Issued on June 26, 2015, under the Missouri Sunshine Law, the request sought the following information:

• The most recently updated municipal ordinances
• The most recent audited financials for the municipality or, if there are no audited financials, the most recent year’s financial statements
• The most recent approved municipal budget
• A list/roster/organizational chart of all civilian personnel employed by the municipality
• The salaries/pay and duties for all civilian personnel employed by the municipality
• Most recent capital improvement plan, public works plan, or plan for the construction and/or maintenance of municipal infrastructure
• Information regarding elected municipal positions, including the duties, qualifications and compensation for these positions
• Hours of operation for the city hall or government administrative offices
• Job description/responsibilities and salary of the city manager/village/city clerk or most senior non-elected city administrator, and the name of the individual serving in this position
• Contracts or agreements for any legal services provided to the municipality since January 1, 2013
• The name of the city attorney along with any current compensation agreements
• Contracts or agreements for auditing services provided to the municipality since January 1, 2013
• The most recent operational audit of the municipal government
• Contracts or agreements for towing services provided to the municipality since January 1, 2013
• Contracts or agreements with the Regional Justice Information Service
• Policies regarding the fulfillment of requests of information under the Missouri Sunshine Law

The information received in response to this request came at a total cost of $8,578.29. Of the 92 requests for information, more than a dozen were fulfilled at no cost, while Norwood Court required $566.50 for fulfillment of the Sunshine Request. Municipalities that did charge did so at an average of $138.36. Much like the cost of providing the information, the time for fulfilling the request varied greatly. Several municipalities, as well as St. Louis County and St. Louis City, fulfilled the request for information within a week, while other governments have yet to provide all of the information requested more than five months after the request was issued. On average, local governments took 29 days to fulfill the request. Complete information on the fulfillment of the Sunshine Request is available in Table 5 of the appendix to this report. As with past studies, Better Together has made the information cited in this report available at [1] and will continue to add documents to the data library as subsequent reports are issued.

The Economic Cost of General Administration

General administration costs include basic expenses for operating city halls and other municipal facilities, as well as wages and benefits for elected officials, city administrators, and city attorneys. These expenses also typically include liability insurance for a city, office expenses, and utilities. For larger municipalities, these expenditures can also comprise a scaled-up version of the aforementioned items, plus the addition of positions such as a finance officer (plus staff), code enforcement officers, and expanded clerk/administrator offices.

In 2014, St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and the 90 municipal governments in St. Louis County spent $281,078,709 on general administration. Per capita, a resident of the St. Louis region paid $213.16 solely for general administration costs in 2014.

Table 1
MUNICIPALITY	POPULATION	TOTAL EXPENDITURES	ADMINISTRATION EXPENDITURES	ADMINISTRATION % OF TOTAL EXPENDITURES	ADMINISTRATION EXPENDITURES PER CAPITA
Ballwin	30,404	$24,290,710	$3,053,797	12.57%	$100.44
Bel-Nor	1,499	$935,464	$113,156	12.10%	$75.49
Bel-Ridge	2,737	$2,101,021	$446,702	21.26%	$163.21
Bella Villa	729	$808,150	$138,567	17.15%	$190.08
Bellefontaine Neighbors	10,860	$8,436,187	$1,325,612	15.71%	$122.06
Bellerive Acres	188	$248,411	$90,175	36.30%	$479.65
Berkeley	8,978	$9,985,736	$2,338,051	23.41%	$260.42
Beverly Hills	574	$826,904
Black Jack	6,929	$2,302,159	$612,781	26.62%	$88.44
Breckenridge Hills	4,746	$2,636,059	$674,388	25.58%	$142.10
Brentwood	8,055	$25,889,049	$3,386,220	13.08%	$420.39
Bridgeton	11,550	$25,209,171	$4,566,139	18.11%	$395.34
Calverton Park	1,293	$777,328	$139,116	17.90%	$107.59
Champ	13	$64,572	$18,152	28.11%	$1,396.31
Charlack	1,363
Chesterfield	47,484	$42,104,611	$3,283,628	7.80%	$69.15
Clarkson Valley	2,632	$832,688	$126,330	15.17%	$48.00
Clayton	15,939	$32,107,835	$4,424,982	13.78%	$277.62
Cool Valley	1,196	$1,291,502	$274,222	21.23%	$229.28
Country Club Hills	1,274	$1,362,934	$355,053	26.05%	$278.69
Country Life Acres	74	$105,771	$10,057	9.51%	$135.91
Crestwood	11,912	$11,399,445	$1,442,820	12.66%	$121.12
Creve Coeur	17,833	$21,319,410	$3,126,107	14.66%	$175.30
Crystal Lake Park	470	$237,979	$52,810	22.19%	$112.36
Dellwood	5,025	$3,001,188	$756,947	25.22%	$150.64
Des Peres	8,373	$20,402,886	$1,644,231	8.06%	$196.37
Edmundson	834	$2,422,188	$183,824	7.59%	$220.41
Ellisville	9,133	$10,130,389	$2,809,216	27.73%	$307.59
Eureka	10,189	$13,608,025	$1,255,971	9.23%	$123.27
Fenton	4,022	$12,150,369	$1,317,284	10.84%	$327.52
Ferguson	21,203	$25,507,313	$1,731,979	6.79%	$81.69
Flordell Hills	822	$546,538	$225,692	41.29%	$274.56
Florissant	52,158	$31,871,004	$4,859,389	15.25%	$93.17
Frontenac	3,482	$8,175,295	$617,775	7.56%	$177.42
Glen Echo Park	160	$43,519	$9,535	21.91%	$59.60
Glendale	5,925	$5,377,337	$632,720	11.77%	$106.79
Grantwood Village	863	$349,984	$51,968	14.85%	$60.22
Green Park	2,622	$2,190,494	$793,809	36.24%	$302.75
Greendale	651	$350,022	$120,278	34.36%	$184.76
Hanley Hills	2,101	$843,308	$59,976	7.11%	$28.55
Hazelwood	25,703	$37,128,082	$2,327,127	6.27%	$90.54
Hillsdale	1,478	$997,232
Huntleigh	334	$211,998	$18,635	8.79%	$55.79
Jennings	14,712	$13,083,079	$1,315,940	10.06%	$89.45
Kinloch	298	$271,875	$143,445	52.76%	$481.36
Kirkwood	27,540	$28,687,884	$4,048,516	14.11%	$147.00
Ladue	8,521	$18,015,545	$1,172,673	6.51%	$137.62
Lakeshire	1,432	$527,164	$109,926	20.85%	$76.76
Mackenzie	134	$43,674	$10,678	24.45%	$79.69
Manchester	18,094	$18,909,536	$1,477,496	7.81%	$81.66
Maplewood	8,046	$24,632,957	$1,866,867	7.58%	$232.02
Marlborough	2,179.	$420,441	$9,781	2.33%	$4.49
Maryland Heights	27,472	$36,871,977	$3,754,685	10.18%	$136.67
Moline Acres	2,442	$3,469,722	$430,769	12.42%	$176.40
Normandy	5,008	$4,570,783	$601,024	13.15%	$120.01
Northwoods	4,227	$3,867,343	$824,945	21.33%	$195.16
Norwood Court	959	$208,657	$49,571	23.76%	$51.69
Oakland	1,381	$747,937	$162,531	21.73%	$117.69
Olivette	7,737	$9,259,204	$1,582,224	17.09%	$204.50
Overland	16,062	$11,077,605	$1,586,811	14.32%	$98.79
Pacific	7,002	$4,879,919	$717,218	14.70%	$102.43
Pagedale	3,304	$2,540,416	$47,417	1.87%	$14.35
Pasadena Hills	930	$537,446	$136,392	25.38%	$146.66
Pasadena Park	470	$202,643	$43,936	21.68%	$93.48
Pine Lawn	3,275	$4,181,269	$743,090	17.77%	$226.90
Richmond Heights	8,603	$26,538,877	$3,700,877	13.95%	$430.18
Riverview	2,856	$1,171,984	$197,756	16.87%	$69.24
Rock Hill	4,635	$5,942,324	$676,900	11.39%	$146.04
Saint Ann	13,020	$12,853,188	$2,094,470	16.30%	$160.87
Saint John	6,517	$5,777,261	$1,776,111	30.74%	$272.54
Saint Louis City	319,294	$814,559,000	$84,648,000	10.39%	$265.11
Shrewsbury	6,254	$13,230,177	$856,501	6.47%	$136.95
STL County	998,954	$776,443,322	$100,152,015	12.90%	$100.26
Sunset Hills	8,496	$10,009,431	$427,381	4.27%	$50.30
Sycamore Hills	668	$181,589	$24,718	13.61%	$37.00
Town & Country	10,815	$15,030,014	$1,663,174	11.07%	$153.78
Twin Oaks	392	$1,059,209	$323,320	30.52%	$824.80
University City	35,371	$31,514,418	$6,959,565	22.08%	$196.76
Uplands Park	445	$185,934	$99,777	53.66%	$224.22
Valley Park	6,942	$6,367,526	$686,546	10.78%	$98.90
Velda City	1,420	$1,017,815	$188,837	18.55%	$132.98
Velda Village Hills	1,055
Vinita Park	1,880	$2,673,543	$432,823	16.19%	$230.23
Vinita Terrace	277	$76,654	$21,096	27.52%	$76.16
Warson Woods	1,962	$1,506,507	$338,157	22.45%	$172.35
Webster Groves	22,995	$25,811,736	$2,789,954	10.81%	$121.33
Wellston	2,313
Westwood	278
Wilbur Park	471	$96,497	$14,060	14.57%	$29.85
Wildwood	35,517	$14,333,246	$1,459,032	10.18%	$41.08
Winchester	1,547	$661,236	$334,889	50.65%	$216.48
Woodson Terrace	4,063	$3,883,687	$961,593	24.76%	$236.67
TOTAL	1,318,610	$2,348,512,517	$281,078,709	N/A
AVERAGE	14,329	$26,687,642	$3,268,357	17.84%
MEDIAN	3,393	$3,668,533	$653,554	15.01%

The table above offers information as reported by each of the 92 local governments – St. Louis, St. Louis County, and the 90 municipalities therein. The following table provides further explanation of the true costs incurred by citizens. It is important to note that St. Louis County provides general administration for incorporated and unincorporated areas of St. Louis County and as such receives funding from both areas. As a result, citizens in St. Louis County municipalities are actually paying more per capita than indicated in the previous tables, as they are paying for general administration in the County and also within their municipality.

In addition, St. Louis City’s status as both a city and a county results in a higher general administration cost. County functions account for $19,462,000, or roughly 23%, of the general administration cost for the City of St. Louis. This amount includes expenditures for offices such as the Recorder of Deeds, Election and Registration, License Collector, Assessor, Collector of Revenue, and the Tax Equalization Board.

Table 2
MUNICIPALITY	POPULATION	TOTAL EXPENDITURES	ADMINISTRATION EXPENDITURES	ADMINISTRATION EXPENDITURES PER CAPITA
Saint Louis City-ALL	319,294	$814,559,000	$84,648,000	$265.11
Saint Louis City- w/o County Function	319,294	N/A	$65,186,000	$204.16
STL County -ALL	998,954	$776,443,322	$100,152,015	$100.26
STL County - Unincorporated	315,127	$776,443,322	$31,593,651†	$100.26
Municipalities	683,827	$757,510,195	$164,837,058‡	$241.05
ALL REGION	1,318,610	$2,348,512,517	$281,078,709	$213.16

†Unincorporated figure determined by apportioning the amount of total administration expenditures for St. Louis County for the proportion of the population that lives in St. Louis County.

‡Municipalities figure determined by combining the administration expenditures in all municipalities with the portion of the St. Louis County administration expenditures apportioned according the percentage of the population living in the municipalities.

By way of comparison, Louisville-Jefferson County is home to 83 municipalities and has a fully integrated regional government, Louisville Metro, which was established on January 1, 2003. ^[2] Louisville Metro handles many of the administrative functions that are divided amongst 92 local governments in the St. Louis region. As such, the regional administrative cost is significantly lower. The cost of general administration for Louisville-Jefferson County in 2014 was $95,913,714. When spread over a population of 756,832, the cost of general administration cost per capita is $126.73, which is $86.43 or 41% less per capita than in the St. Louis region.

If the St. Louis region were able to reduce its per capita general administration cost to that of Louisville-Jefferson County, it would result in a savings of $113,967,462 annually. Prior to the consolidation, Louisville-Jefferson County saw a trend of steadily increasing government spending. Now, nearly 13 years after the creation of Louisville Metro, that trend has stopped – meaning not only that Louisville Metro is operating more efficiently than the St. Louis region, but also that trends indicate the gap in spending between the two regions will continue to grow. ^[3]

Table 3
REGION	TOTAL POPULATION	TOTAL EXPENDITURES	TOTAL EXPENDITURES PER CAPITA	TOTAL GENERAL ADMINISTRATION EXPENDITURES	GENERAL ADMINISTRATION EXPENDITURES PER CAPITA
St. Louis City-St. Louis County	1,318,610	$2,348,512,517	$1,781	$281,078,709	$213.16
Louisville-Jefferson County	756,832	$808,456,794	$1,068	$95,913,714	$126.73

The Impact of Fragmented General Administration

In addition to the economic cost of operating 92 local governments, the daily life of citizens is impacted by a correspondingly high number of local ordinances. 52,631 pages of ordinances govern the St. Louis region excluding the ordinances of Bel-Nor , Beverly Hills , Calverton Park , Hanley Hills , Hillsdale , Kinloch , Mackenzie , Uplands Park , Velda Village Hills , all of which have failed to provide their ordinances. Placed end to end, the 52,631 pages would extend 9.1 miles and stretch from Busch Stadium to the Galleria. In comparison, the Internal Revenue Tax Code is 9,000 pages.

While the mere numbers are staggering, the real-life implications for citizens’ daily lives are also troubling. In parts of the St. Louis region, laws governing barbecuing and manner of walking are not rarities; in some municipalities, even mismatched drapes and curtains are subject to punishment. Compounding the problem are inconsistencies in these municipal ordinances. Minor variances across communities have resulted in citations that, in some cases, have altered the lives of individuals and even entire families. ^[4]

While it is reasonable to expect citizens to be aware of local ordinances and while ignorance of the law is not a defense, the number of ordinances in our region, when combined with their inaccessibility, can be overwhelming to private citizens. In fact, 27 municipalities in St. Louis County do not provide online access to municipal ordinances, meaning that citizens would either have to review them at their local city hall or request and pay for a copy of the ordinances to be provided to them. The following table details the availability of ordinances in the St. Louis region and provides links to all ordinances collected by Better Together.

Table 4
MUNICIPALITY	LINK TO ORDINANCES	NUMBER OF PAGES OF ORDINANCES	METHOD OF OBTAINING ORDINANCES	AVAILABLE ONLINE PRIOR TO BT RESEARCH?
Ballwin		811	MuniCode	Yes
Bel-Nor	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	No
Bel-Ridge		455	Sunshine Request	No
Bella Villa		912	Sunshine Request	No
Bellefontaine Neighbors		544	GeneralCode	Yes
Bellerive Acres		638	Municipal Website	Yes
Berkeley		724	GeneralCode	Yes
Beverly Hills	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	No
Black Jack		712	MuniCode	Yes
Breckenridge Hills		473	GeneralCode	Yes
Brentwood		628	GeneralCode	Yes
Bridgeton		868	GeneralCode	Yes
Calverton Park	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	No
Champ		6	Sunshine Request	No
Charlack		362	GeneralCode	Yes
Chesterfield		1119	GeneralCode	Yes
Clarkson Valley		423	Municipal Website	Yes
Clayton		835	GeneralCode	Yes
Cool Valley		309	GeneralCode	Yes
Country Club Hills		1003	Sunshine Request	No
Country Life Acres		249	Sunshine Request	No
Crestwood		990	MuniCode	Yes
Creve Coeur		937	GeneralCode	Yes
Crystal Lake Park		320	GeneralCode	Yes
Dellwood		494	Sunshine Request	No
Des Peres		344	MuniCode	Yes
Edmundson		456	GeneralCode	Yes
Ellisville		671	GeneralCode	Yes
Eureka		729	Municipal Website	Yes
Fenton		678	GeneralCode	Yes
Ferguson		609	MuniCode	Yes
Flordell Hills		812	Sunshine Request	No
Florissant		832	GeneralCode	Yes
Frontenac		503	GeneralCode	Yes
Glen Echo Park		96	Sunshine Request	No
Glendale		394	GeneralCode	Yes
Grantwood Village		334	Municipal Website	Yes
Green Park		507	GeneralCode	Yes
Greendale		523	Municipal Website	Yes
Hanley Hills	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	No
Hazelwood		700	GeneralCode	Yes
Hillsdale	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	No
Huntleigh		228	Municipal Website	Yes
Jennings		652	MuniCode	Yes
Kinloch	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	No
Kirkwood		1188	GeneralCode	Yes
Ladue		344	MuniCode	Yes
Lakeshire		340	Sunshine Request	No
Mackenzie	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	No
Manchester		572	GeneralCode	Yes
Maplewood		512	MuniCode	Yes
Marlborough		560	Sunshine Request	No
Maryland Heights		761	MuniCode	Yes
Moline Acres		724	Municipal Website	Yes
Normandy		569	GeneralCode	Yes
Northwoods		470	GeneralCode	Yes
Norwood Court		399	Sunshine Request	No
Oakland		410	GeneralCode	Yes
Olivette		701	GeneralCode	Yes
Overland		744	GeneralCode	Yes
Pacific		649	GeneralCode	Yes
Pagedale		407	GeneralCode	Yes
Pasadena Hills		630	Sunshine Request	No
Pasadena Park		327	Sunshine Request	No
Pine Lawn		463	GeneralCode	Yes
Richmond Heights		785	GeneralCode	Yes
Riverview		656	Sunshine Request	No
Rock Hill		579	GeneralCode	Yes
Saint Ann		588	GeneralCode	Yes
Saint John		386	GeneralCode	Yes
Saint Louis City		4180	MuniCode	Yes
Shrewsbury		568	GeneralCode	Yes
STL County		2794	MuniCode	Yes
Sunset Hills		604	MuniCode	Yes
Sycamore Hills		767	Sunshine Request	No
Town & Country		720	GeneralCode	Yes
Twin Oaks		394	GeneralCode	Yes
University City		840	GeneralCode	Yes
Uplands Park	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	No
Valley Park		278	GeneralCode	Yes
Velda City		257	Sunshine Request	No
Velda Village Hills	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	No
Vinita Park		298	Municipal Website	Yes
Vinita Terrace		402	Sunshine Request	No
Warson Woods		431	GeneralCode	Yes
Webster Groves		1045	MuniCode	Yes
Wellston		673	Sunshine Request	No
Westwood		81	Municipal Website	Yes
Wilbur Park		115	Municipal Website	Yes
Wildwood		696	GeneralCode	Yes
Winchester		402	GeneralCode	Yes
Woodson Terrace		442	GeneralCode	Yes
TOTAL	N/A	52631	N/A	65
AVERAGE	N/A	634	N/A	N/A
MEDIAN	N/A	569	N/A	N/A

In comparison, a recent survey of Louisville- Jefferson County found that the governments of Louisville Metro and its municipalities had roughly 145 pages of ordinances on average – less than a quarter of the local government ordinances of the St. Louis region.

The figures surrounding the local ordinances that govern the St. Louis region have a multitude of real-world implications. As Better Together’s report on Economic Development highlighted, the local regulatory environment in the St. Louis region is onerous due to the widely varying requirements and costs of obtaining a business license. Also troubling are the 453,157 outstanding warrants that have resulted from 52,631 pages of local ordinances in the St. Louis region. When combined with the high overall cost of operating this system, it is clear that the St. Louis region can no longer justify the status quo.

Subsequent reports will further examine the structure and operation of local governments in the St. Louis City and County region in greater detail. These reports will provide greater detail and analysis on how local governments in our region operate, as well as information on best practices that will provide potential roads to improvement for the St. Louis region.

Municipal Structure, Powers, Funding, & Operations

This is the second in a series of reports on General Administration across the St. Louis City and County region. An initial report on the costs of general administration in the region revealed that, in 2014, St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and the 90 municipal governments in St. Louis County spent $281,078,709 on general administration. On a per capita basis, a resident of the St. Louis region paid $213.16 solely for general administration costs in 2014. In comparison, Louisville-Jefferson County, which is home to 83 municipalities but has a fully integrated regional government, spent $95,913,714 for general administration. On a per capita basis, a citizen in Louisville-Jefferson County pays $126.73, which is $86.43 less per capita than the St. Louis region. If the St. Louis region were to operate at the general administration cost of Louisville-Jefferson County, the region would realize an annual savings of $113,967,462.

However, it is not simply administrative cost that is higher in the St. Louis region. A regional comparison between the St. Louis region, Indianapolis-Marion County, and Louisville-Jefferson County reveals that the St. Louis region is far outspending other regions in local government expenses overall. The comparison showed that municipal services were provided across the 92 local governments of the St. Louis region at a cost of $2,386,295,688 or $1,809.71 per capita. In contrast, Indianapolis-Marion County spent $1,121,465,888 or $1,208.11 per capita, while Louisville-Jefferson County spent $828,548,167 or $1,094.76 per capita. ^[5] Given that St. Louis is the largest of the three regions, it would be expected to achieve efficiency through economies of scale. Yet that is not the case.

This report will provide information on the powers of municipalities, how they fund themselves, what services they provide, and at what cost. Additionally, potential reasons for the region’s high spending on municipal services will be examined. Finally, the potential implementation of best practices will be explored, with a focus on providing efficient and effective services to all citizens in the St. Louis region.

The Current Structure of the St. Louis Region

Before analyzing how local governments fund and provide municipal service delivery in the St. Louis region, it is important to understand some of the history behind the overall structure and several of the key differences between the classifications of municipal governments.

Municipal governments in St. Louis City and St. Louis County fall under four categories established by state statute: charter cities, third-class cities, fourth-class cities, and villages. The St. Louis City and County region consists of 18 charter cities, 8 third-class cities, 43 fourth-class cities, and 22 villages. The information contained in the following table provides additional information on the municipal classifications, qualifications, governance, and powers, which vary from class to class.

Table 1
CLASSIFICATION	POPULATION REQUIREMENT	LEGISLATIVE BRANCH	EXECUTIVE BRANCH	MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT POWERS
Charter Cities	None Established	Established and governed by charter.	Established and governed by charter.	"Any city which adopts or has adopted a charter for its own government, shall have all powers which the general assembly of the state of Missouri has authority to confer upon the city, provided such powers are consistent with the constitution of this state and are not limited or denied either by the charter so adopted or by statute. Such a city shall, in addition to its home rule powers, have all powers conferred by law" (Missouri Consitution,Art. VI, 19(a)).
3rd Class Cities	3,000 - 29,999	Mayor-Council: not less than 4 wards, each of which has one two council members. Commission: Two or four council members, elected at large to four year terms. City Manager: Two forms: (1) five council members, elected at large for three year terms, one selected by the others to serve as mayor for a one year term. (2) seven council members, one from each of the five wards and two elected at large.	Mayor-Council: Mayor elected to four year term. City Administrator available to this form of municipality. Commission: Mayor elected to four year term. City Manager: Mayor selected from among city council to serve, city council employs administrative head of city government as City Manager.	Both Mayor-Council and Commission: City divided in five departments (public,affairs, accounts and finances, public safety, streets and public improvement, parks and public property) and responsibilities for those departments is divided among the mayor and commissioners (RSMO 78.060). City Manager: The council retains the duty to pass all ordinances conducive to the welfare of the city. The Council shall also provide for all offices and positions necessary to the City Manager to carry on the work of the city (RSMO 78.570). The City Manager shall be the administrative head of the government subject to the direction and supervisions of the council. It is the City Manager's job to make sure that all laws and ordinances are enforced, to exercise control of all departments and divisions of the city, to prepare and submit an annual budget (RSMO 78.610).
4th Class Cities	500 - 2,999	Board of Aldermen: two aldermen per ward, at least two wards. Two year terms, four years if approved by voters.	Mayor elected to a two or four year term. City Administrator available to this form of municipality.	The Board of Aldermen shall "have the care, management and control of the city finances and shall have power to enact and ordain any and all ordinances not repugnant to the constitution and laws of this state," further the city is able to legislate on keeping the peace in the community, regulating businesses, public health, and general good government (RSMO 79.110.1). Those powers also include zoning powers and the ability to address public safety concerns too (RSMO 79.450.1).
Villages	Fewer than 500	Board of Trustees	Chairman	The Board of Trustees is granted statutory authority to pass ordinances in more than 40 specified areas (RSMO 80.090), many are very specific but generally fall into some broad categories:- power to license and regulate merchants - some public, health powers - zoning - fire protection, police - power to tax - power to provide for public infrastructure

The following identifies the classification of each municipality, as well as its year of incorporation:

Table 2
MUNICIPALITY	CLASSIFICATION	YEAR OF INCORPORATION
Ballwin	4th	1950
Bel-Nor	4th	1937
Bel-Ridge	4th	1947
Bella Villa	4th	1947
Bellefontaine Neighbors	4th	1950
Bellerive Acres	4th	1939
Berkeley	Charter	1937
Beverly Hills	4th	1935
Black Jack	3rd	1970
Breckenridge Hills	3rd	1950
Brentwood	4th	1919
Bridgeton	Charter	1843
Calverton Park	4th	1940
Champ	Village	1959
Charlack	4th	1945
Chesterfield	3rd	1988
Clarkson Valley	4th	1989
Clayton	Charter	1913
Cool Valley	4th	1951
Country Club Hills	4th	1943
Country Life Acres	Village	1946
Crestwood	Charter	1949
Creve Coeur	Charter	1949
Crystal Lake Park	4th	1957
Dellwood	4th	1951
Des Peres	4th	1934
Edmundson	4th	1948
Ellisville	Charter	1932
Eureka	4th	1954
Fenton	4th	1837
Ferguson	Charter	1894
Flordell Hills	4th	1946
Florissant	Charter	1786
Frontenac	4th	1947
Glen Echo Park	Village	1938
Glendale	4th	1912
Grantwood Village	Village	1937
Green Park	4th	--
Greendale	4th	1950
Hanley Hills	Village	1948
Hazelwood	Charter	1949
Hillsdale	Village	1947
Huntleigh	4th	1929
Jennings	3rd	1946
Kinloch	4th	1948
Kirkwood	Charter	1865
Ladue	4th	1936
Lakeshire	4th	1951
Mackenzie	Village	1946
Manchester	4th	1959
Maplewood	Charter	1908
Marlborough	Village	1944
Maryland Heights	3rd	1985
Moline Acres	4th	1949
Normandy	3rd	1945
Northwoods	4th	1940
Norwood Court	Village	1949
Oakland	4th	1920
Olivette	Charter	1930
Overland	3rd	1939
Pacific	4th	1859
Pagedale	4th	1950
Pasadena Hills	4th	1935
Pasadena Park	Village	1935
Pine Lawn	4th	1947
Richmond Heights	Charter	1913
Riverview	Village	1950
Rock Hill	4th	1929
Saint Ann	4th	1948
Saint John	Charter	1945
Saint Louis	Charter	1809
Shrewsbury	4th	1913
STL County	--	--
Sunset Hills	4th	1957
Sycamore Hills	Village	1941
Town & Country	4th	1950
Twin Oaks	Village	1938
University City	Charter	1906
Uplands Park	Village	1941
Valley Park	4th	1917
Velda City	4th	1938
Velda Village Hills	4th	1945
Vinita Park	4th	1950
Vinita Terrace	Village	1940
Warson Woods	4th	1936
Webster Groves	Charter	1896
Wellston	3rd	1949
Westwood	Village	1951
Wilbur Park	Village	1941
Wildwood	Charter	1995
Winchester	4th	1935
Woodson Terrace	4th	1954

In addition to providing classifications, the preceding table highlights the lack of any grand vision or common design in the creation of the St. Louis region. The oldest of the municipalities, Florissant, was incorporated in 1786, a year prior to the signing of the United States Constitution, while Wildwood was incorporated in 1995. The St. Louis region took shape over a period of two centuries with an additional 7 municipalities forming in the 19th century, 59 municipalities incorporating between 1900 and 1950, and 24 coming into existence between 1950 and 1995. This history of fragmented formation has its roots in everything from simple geography (with some municipalities being separated due to a previously inconvenient distance of travel) to the genesis of municipalities as instruments for the implementation of race-based restrictive covenants. The various reasons for incorporation, though quite different from one another, help to explain how the St. Louis region came to be home to a fragmented structure of 90 municipalities, St. Louis City, and St. Louis County. An understanding of this structure lends context to the unique and troubling manner in which the St. Louis region funds itself and operates at the local government level.

Revenue Across the St. Louis Region

The St. Louis region collects over $2 billion in total revenue annually for the provision of municipal services. The following table details the range of top revenue streams for each municipality, St. Louis City, and St. Louis County.

Table 3
MUNICIPALITY	POPULATION	TOTAL REVENUE	SALES TAX REVENUE	SALES TAX % OF TOTAL REVENUE	PROPERTY TAX REVENUE	PROPERTY TAX % OF TOTAL REVENUE	UTILITY GROSS RECEIPTS REVENUE	UTILITY TAX % OF TOTAL REVENUE	LICENSES AND PERMITS REVENUE	LICENSES AND PERMITS % OF TOTAL REVENUE	INTERGOVERNMENTAL REVENUE	INTERGOVERNMENTAL % OF TOTAL REVENUE	COURT FINES AND FEES REVENUE	COURT FINES AND FEES % OF TOTAL REVENUE	CHARGES FOR SERVICE REVENUE	CHARGES FOR SERVICE % OF TOTAL REVENUE	INVESTMENT INCOME REVENUE	INVESTMENT INCOME % OF TOTAL REVENUE	MISC REVENUE	MISC % OF TOTAL REVENUE	OTHER REVENUE	OTHER % OF TOTAL REVENUE
Ballwin	30,404	$21,623,093	$9,430,333	43.61%	$0	0	$3,724,984	17.23%	$1,637,987	7.58%	$1,842,919	8.52%	$865,474	4.00%	$2,709,312	12.53%	$128,774	0.60%	$240,582	1.11%	$1,042,728	4.82%
Bel-Nor	1,499	$908,409	$237,161	26.11%	$84,337	9.28%	$66,430	7.31%	$21,123	2.33%	$211,012	23.23%	$67,794	7.46%	$1,522	0.17%	$174	0.02%	$218,856	24.09%	$0	0.00%
Bel-Ridge	2,737	$2,037,856	$597,385	29.31%	$322,727	15.84%	$58,613	2.88%	$217,119	10.65%	$94,255	4.63%	$373,644	18.34%	$8,935	0.44%	$530	0.03%	$31,399	1.54%	$333,249	16.35%
Bella Villa	729	$702,969	$45,004	6.40%	$0	0	$53,531	7.61%	$1,905	0.27%	$144,603	20.57%	$416,373	59.23%	$0	0.00%	$2,755	0.39%	$0	0.00%	$38,798	5.52%
Bellefontaine Neighbors	10,860	$8,782,944	$2,339,048	26.63%	$580,009	6.60%	$1,449,568	16.50%	$123,338	1.40%	$2,847,475	32.42%	$1,218,842	13.88%	$171,213	1.95%	$11,320	0.13%	$28,350	0.32%	$13,781	0.16%
Bellerive Acres	188	$266,027	$96,413	36.24%	$30,581	11.50%	$38,355	14.42%	$17,885	6.72%	$7,568	2.84%	$65,006	24.44%	$0	0.00%	$1,147	0.43%	$9,072	3.41%	$0	0.00%
Berkeley	8,978	$11,971,505	$3,359,148	28.06%	$2,158,838	18.03%	$2,613,767	21.83%	$1,249,640	10.44%	$752,621	6.29%	$1,195,744	9.99%	$0	0.00%	$3,589	0.03%	$0	0.00%	$638,158	5.33%
Beverly Hills	574	$848,625	$118,662	13.98%	$19,865	2.34%	$100,271	11.82%	$25,711	3.03%	$22,542	2.66%	$402,636	47.45%	$154,790	18.24%	$341	0.04%	$3,807	0.45%	$0	0.00%
Black Jack	6,929	$2,910,119	$1,500,734	51.57%	$308,849	10.61%	$409,682	14.08%	$42,811	1.47%	$353,633	12.15%	$110,868	3.81%	$7,175	0.25%	$3,776	0.13%	$172,591	5.93%	$0	0.00%
Breckenridge Hills	4,746	$2,680,534	$869,587	32.44%	$92,592	3.45%	$303,537	11.32%	$140,392	5.24%	$241,239	9.00%	$649,475	24.23%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%	$383,712	14.31%	$0	0.00%
Brentwood	8,055	$24,073,658	$13,547,391	56.27%	$4,124,973	17.13%	$3,061,715	12.72%	$1,788,303	7.43%	$1,199,400	4.98%	$338,198	1.40%	$1,145,565	4.76%	$22,637	0.09%	$162,598	0.68%	$194,466	0.81%
Bridgeton	11,550	$21,298,574	$11,913,136	55.93%	$660,579	3.10%	$2,940,998	13.81%	$1,603,798	7.53%	$1,541,508	7.24%	$431,414	2.03%	$1,556,739	7.31%	$176,690	0.83%	$402,990	1.89%	$0	0.00%
Calverton Park	1,293	$928,799	$367,501	39.57%	Breakdown of sales and property taxes not provided	Breakdown of sales and property taxes not provided	$10,851	1.17%	$11,057	1.19%	$0	0.00%	$524,266	56.45%	$0	0.00%	$250	0.03%	$11,350	1.22%	$3,523	0.38%
Champ	13	$46,094	$0	0.00%	$0	0	$41,295	89.59%	$2,694	5.84%	$2,086	4.53%	$0	0	$0	0.00%	$19	0.04%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%
Charlack	1,363	$1,012,798	$623,154	61.53%	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	$64,185	6.34%	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	$234,601	23.16%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%	$90,859	8.97%	$0	0.00%
Chesterfield	47,484	$40,715,574	$19,706,655	48.40%	$947,075	2.33%	$7,429,472	18.25%	$1,605,721	3.94%	$7,286,575	17.90%	$1,177,957	2.89%	$1,760,938	4.32%	$61,750	0.15%	$739,431	1.82%	$0	0.00%
Clarkson Valley	2,632	$931,387	$404,792	43.46%	$169,421	18.19%	$99,736	10.71%	$19,545	2.10%	$87,725	9.42%	$140,673	15.10%	$0	0.00%	$1,657	0.18%	$7,838	0.84%	$0	0.00%
Clayton	15,939	$30,030,471	$6,186,273	20.60%	$7,095,591	23.63%	$5,452,949	18.16%	$1,617,546	5.39%	$4,121,545	13.72%	$1,067,415	3.55%	$3,596,743	11.98%	$138,456	0.46%	$151,949	0.51%	$602,004	2.00%
Cool Valley	1,196	$1,016,326	$255,445	25.13%	$37,691	3.71%	$210,692	20.73%	$64,730	6.37%	$63,371	6.24%	$271,181	26.68%	$0	0.00%	$2,105	0.21%	$111,111	10.93%	$0	0.00%
Country Club Hills	1,274	$1,150,238	$262,793	22.85%	$169,469	14.73%	$142,799	12.41%	$15,450	1.34%	$33,126	2.88%	$326,823	28.41%	$141,500	12.30%	$347	0.03%	$57,931	5.04%	$0	0.00%
Country Life Acres	74	$91,047	$10,644	11.69%	$2,120	2.33%	$2,007	2.20%	$0	0.00%	$33,789	37.11%	$0	0	$42,270	46.43%	$127	0.14%	$90	0.10%	$0	0.00%
Crestwood	11,912	$12,227,321	$5,922,020	48.43%	$1,093,692	8.94%	$1,618,659	13.24%	$779,996	6.38%	$484,583	3.96%	$220,323	1.80%	$650,599	5.32%	$27,608	0.23%	$1,429,841	11.69%	$0	0.00%
Creve Coeur	17,833	$18,607,694	$6,876,143	36.95%	$558,971	3.00%	$6,171,405	33.17%	$933,612	5.02%	$1,871,204	10.06%	$1,546,944	8.31%	$141,060	0.76%	$287,644	1.55%	$220,711	1.19%	$0	0.00%
Crystal Lake Park	470	$310,383	$98,131	31.62%	$112,219	36.16%	$41,220	13.28%	$5,530	1.78%	$34,891	11.24%	$0	0	$0	0.00%	$1,635	0.53%	$16,757	5.40%	$0	0.00%
Dellwood	5,025	$3,029,467	$2,057,552	67.92%	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	$83,110	2.74%	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	$333,341	11.00%	$235,840	7.78%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%	$319,624	10.55%
Des Peres	8,373	$20,904,765	$12,699,174	60.75%	$0	0	$1,216,374	5.82%	$1,547,242	7.40%	$1,195,705	5.72%	$430,281	2.06%	$3,149,371	15.07%	$58,005	0.28%	$608,613	2.91%	$0	0.00%
Edmundson	834	$2,546,057	$948,232	37.24%	$82,532	3.24%	$127,179	5.00%	$403,939	15.87%	$73,233	2.88%	$478,807	18.81%	$0	0.00%	$12,778	0.50%	$404,606	15.89%	$14,751	0.58%
Ellisville	9,133	$9,838,127	$5,392,558	54.81%	$293,833	2.99%	$1,896,688	19.28%	$589,208	5.99%	$226,704	2.30%	$205,204	2.09%	$359,730	3.66%	$72,904	0.74%	$63,935	0.65%	$0	0.00%
Eureka	10,189	$9,307,839	$5,120,853	55.02%	$826,135	8.88%	$1,261,238	13.55%	$273,248	2.94%	$769,405	8.27%	$225,087	2.42%	$608,523	6.54%	$34,206	0.37%	$189,145	2.03%	$0	0.00%
Fenton	4,022	$11,508,493	$6,741,545	58.58%	$0	0	$1,463,607	12.72%	$0	0.00%	$581,162	5.05%	$447,341	3.89%	$1,799,525	15.64%	$35,185	0.31%	$71,236	0.62%	$368,892	3.21%
Ferguson	21,203	$19,196,634	$7,687,363	40.05%	$3,327,974	17.34%	$2,459,500	12.81%	$739,497	3.85%	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	$2,096,617	10.92%	$780,373	4.07%	$227,521	1.19%	$1,846,096	9.62%	$0	0.00%
Flordell Hills	822	$516,749	$201,217	38.94%	$15,979	3.09%	$33,032	6.39%	$9,447	1.83%	$23,870	4.62%	$225,861	43.71%	$523	0.10%	$11	0.00%	$6,810	1.32%	$0	0.00%
Florissant	52,158	$31,854,527	$15,694,200	49.27%	$0	0	$6,348,324	19.93%	$1,491,579	4.68%	$2,915,505	9.15%	$2,491,846	7.82%	$1,512,117	4.75%	$17,707	0.06%	$1,383,249	4.34%	$0	0.00%
Frontenac	3,482	$8,616,840	$4,557,214	52.89%	$1,175,159	13.64%	$549,568	6.38%	$487,565	5.66%	$338,720	3.93%	$510,188	5.92%	$482,222	5.60%	$30,841	0.36%	$428,795	4.98%	$56,568	0.66%
Glen Echo Park	160	$57,046	$24,206	42.43%	$18,389	32.24%	$2,971	5.21%	$350	0.61%	$7,976	13.98%	$0	0	$2,640	4.63%	$35	0.06%	$479	0.84%	$0	0.00%
Glendale	5,925	$5,359,655	$1,335,323	24.91%	$769,414	14.36%	$1,024,281	19.11%	$255,141	4.76%	$1,325,440	24.73%	$195,253	3.64%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%	$186,661	3.48%	$268,142	5.00%
Grantwood Village	863	$420,777	$228,287	54.25%	$76,702	18.23%	$1,982	0.47%	$0	0.00%	$50,845	12.08%	$36,820	8.75%	$25,785	6.13%	$341	0.08%	$15	0.00%	$0	0.00%
Green Park	2,622	$1,676,312	$824,098	49.16%	$0	0	$545,092	32.52%	$29,272	1.75%	$217,059	12.95%	$0	0	$50,296	3.00%	$9,380	0.56%	$1,115	0.07%	$0	0.00%
Greendale	651	$405,937	$139,816	34.44%	$44,244	10.90%	$65,933	16.24%	$7,052	1.74%	$33,044	8.14%	$50,981	12.56%	$52,963	13.05%	$609	0.15%	$792	0.20%	$10,503	2.59%
Hanley Hills	2,101	$800,219	$409,995	51.24%	$91,072	11.38%	$38,520	4.81%	$53,442	6.68%	$84,630	10.58%	$121,142	15.14%	$0	0.00%	$1,418	0.18%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%
Hazelwood	25,703	$38,720,756	$13,680,453	35.33%	$10,857,634	28.04%	$3,419,259	8.83%	$3,772,101	9.74%	$2,186,136	5.65%	$1,847,704	4.77%	$498,353	1.29%	$63,076	0.16%	$1,032,985	2.67%	$1,363,055	3.52%
Hillsdale	1,478	$935,919	$313,977	33.55%	$95,778	10.23%	$69,723	7.45%	$18,304	1.96%	$57,005	6.09%	$316,009	33.76%	$58,260	6.22%	$7	0.00%	$6,856	0.73%	$0	0.00%
Huntleigh	334	$155,540	$48,840	31.40%	$82,693	53.17%	$7,728	4.97%	$2,200	1.41%	$13,501	8.68%	$0	0	$0	0.00%	$77	0.05%	$500	0.32%	$0	0.00%
Jennings	14,712	$11,579,509	$5,480,440	47.33%	$846,487	7.31%	$1,817,675	15.70%	$335,330	2.90%	$763,081	6.59%	$727,982	6.29%	$911,059	7.87%	$663	0.01%	$284,221	2.45%	$412,571	3.56%
Kinloch	298	$265,891	$46,535	17.50%	$22,692	8.53%	$17,790	6.69%	$675	0.25%	$15,263	5.74%	$43,336	16.30%	$118,750	44.66%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%	$850	0.32%
Kirkwood	27,540	$27,783,803	$9,368,286	33.72%	$4,380,226	15.77%	$5,536,145	19.93%	$2,116,261	7.62%	$2,499,795	9.00%	$599,254	2.16%	$2,534,545	9.12%	$35,659	0.13%	$662,112	2.38%	$0	0.00%
Ladue	8,521	$16,805,515	$4,338,408	25.82%	$4,520,958	26.90%	$3,470,981	20.65%	$617,061	3.67%	$880,562	5.24%	$589,480	3.51%	$389,850	2.32%	$53,064	0.32%	$1,901,057	11.31%	$0	0.00%
Lakeshire	1,432	$591,404	$299,040	50.56%	$56,956	9.63%	$121,293	20.51%	$15,294	2.59%	$75,897	12.83%	$22,324	3.77%	$0	0.00%	$600	0.10%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%
Mackenzie	134	$51,308	$20,098	39.17%	$3,119	6.08%	$6,556	12.78%	$817	1.59%	$4,184	8.15%	0	0	$15,662	30.53%	$28	0.05%	$843	1.64%	$0	0.00%
Manchester	18,094	$18,713,790	$12,257,239	65.50%	$1,975,207	10.55%	$1,606,432	8.58%	$339,383	1.81%	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	$467,784	2.50%	$416,325	2.22%	$163,907	0.88%	$278,016	1.49%	$0	0.00%
Maplewood	8,046	$15,117,862	$7,230,054	47.82%	$2,629,248	17.39%	$2,058,967	13.62%	$832,948	5.51%	$164,916	1.09%	$1,075,639	7.12%	$51,431	0.34%	$8,306	0.05%	$460,175	3.04%	$0	0.00%
Marlborough	2,179.	$877,689	$320,304	36.49%	$279,904	31.89%	$63,268	7.21%	$7,575	0.86%	$102,044	11.63%	$96,198	10.96%	$3,770	0.43%	$4,627	0.53%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%
Maryland Heights	27,472	$36,261,487	$9,505,602	26.21%	$0	0	$6,102,374	16.83%	$634,113	1.75%	$2,820,727	7.78%	$2,056,723	5.67%	$1,908,468	5.26%	$608,117	1.68%	$103,159	0.28%	$12,522,204	34.53%
Moline Acres	2,442	$2,049,957	$656,485	32.02%	$223,624	10.91%	$231,624	11.30%	$73,424	3.58%	$133,642	6.52%	$600,837	29.31%	$0	0.00%	$2,175	0.11%	$42,251	2.06%	$85,895	4.19%
Normandy	5,008	$4,462,076	$994,997	22.30%	$157,379	3.53%	$781,510	17.51%	$39,773	0.89%	$265,638	5.95%	$1,502,614	33.68%	$52,985	1.19%	$601	0.01%	$50,179	1.12%	$616,400	13.81%
Northwoods	4,227	$3,879,096	$1,032,872	26.63%	$488,066	12.58%	$727,748	18.76%	$130,189	3.36%	$938,489	24.19%	$475,564	12.26%	$0	0.00%	$1,831	0.05%	$84,337	2.17%	$0	0.00%
Norwood Court	959	$226,182	$162,118	71.68%	$0	0	$13,155	5.82%	$4,182	1.85%	$41,935	18.54%	$963	0.43%	$0	0.00%	$280	0.12%	$3,549	1.57%	$0	0.00%
Oakland	1,381	$773,608	$285,087	36.85%	$116,391	15.05%	$145,056	18.75%	$28,505	3.68%	$70,839	9.16%	$93,113	12.04%	$0	0.00%	$3,844	0.50%	$30,773	3.98%	$0	0.00%
Olivette	7,737	$9,615,226	$8,015,254	83.36%	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	$419,501	4.36%	$71,323	0.74%	$282,012	2.93%	$657,535	6.84%	$357	0.00%	$169,244	1.76%	$0	0.00%
Overland	16,062	$9,855,788	$3,136,268	31.82%	$332,275	3.37%	$2,501,421	25.38%	$1,301,063	13.20%	$882,920	8.96%	$745,173	7.56%	$0	0.00%	$14,650	0.15%	$290,430	2.95%	$651,488	6.61%
Pacific	7,002	$5,301,864	$1,684,239	31.77%	$528,851	9.97%	$1,339,676	25.27%	$177,079	3.34%	$469,829	8.86%	$161,502	3.05%	$138,426	2.61%	$3,427	0.06%	$2,566	0.05%	$796,269	15.02%
Pagedale	3,304	$2,778,093	$1,090,378	39.25%	$189,823	6.83%	$471,471	16.97%	$297,638	10.71%	$202,044	7.27%	$351,583	12.66%	$32,444	1.17%	$4,694	0.17%	$138,018	4.97%	$0	0.00%
Pasadena Hills	930	$571,060	$194,576	34.07%	$50,594	8.86%	$116,370	20.38%	$5,778	1.01%	$42,649	7.47%	$12,353	2.16%	$0	0.00%	$279	0.05%	$30,282	5.30%	$118,179	20.69%
Pasadena Park	470	$229,738	$96,690	42.09%	$31,141	13.56%	$10,479	4.56%	$3,407	1.48%	$24,718	10.76%	$3,423	1.49%	$57,529	25.04%	$2,351	1.02%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%
Pine Lawn	3,275	$3,910,584	$677,848	17.33%	$69,134	1.77%	$333,465	8.53%	$70,297	1.80%	$167,519	4.28%	$2,441,228	62.43%	$137,135	3.51%	$609	0.02%	$13,327	0.34%	$22	0.00%
Richmond Heights	8,603	$22,094,178	$10,461,245	47.35%	$2,918,383	13.21%	$1,803,616	8.16%	$1,199,258	5.43%	$2,236,000	10.12%	$700,189	3.17%	$2,105,678	9.53%	$183,669	0.83%	$486,140	2.20%	$0	0.00%
Riverview	2,856	$1,157,780	$632,869	54.66%	$78,494	6.78%	$49,315	4.26%	$30,421	2.63%	$133,300	11.51%	$164,976	14.25%	$14,800	1.28%	$1,361	0.12%	$52,244	4.51%	$0	0.00%
Rock Hill	4,635	$5,408,245	$2,158,184	39.91%	$1,056,616	19.54%	$877,088	16.22%	$231,516	4.28%	$295,796	5.47%	$540,665	10.00%	$0	0.00%	$21,065	0.39%	$227,315	4.20%	$0	0.00%
Saint Ann	13,020	$11,495,868	$1,171,425	10.19%	$725,933	6.31%	$1,543,069	13.42%	$512,182	4.46%	$797,294	6.94%	$3,316,124	28.85%	$1,131,743	9.84%	$1,647	0.01%	$267,323	2.33%	$2,029,128	17.65%
Saint John	6,517	$5,319,468	$2,662,516	50.05%	$617,239	11.60%	$56,767	1.07%	$200,633	3.77%	$281,730	5.30%	$873,134	16.41%	$37,212	0.70%	$0	0.00%	$522,281	9.82%	$76,076	1.43%
Saint Louis	319,294	$755,649,000	$173,018,000	22.90%	$81,797,000	10.82%	$97,344,000	12.88%	$26,004,000	3.44%	$88,069,000	11.65%	$10,810,000	1.43%	$49,867,000	6.60%	$364,000	0.05%	$23,048,000	3.05%	$202,022,000	26.73%
Shrewsbury	6,254	$6,912,879	$2,434,586	35.22%	$1,108,570	16.04%	$1,065,052	15.41%	$531,484	7.69%	$161,915	2.34%	$420,902	6.09%	$852,426	12.33%	$39,404	0.57%	$272,519	3.94%	$26,021	0.38%
STL County	998,954	$685,336,074	$323,231,222	47.16%	$109,940,317	16.04%	$31,991,013	4.67%	$68,489,608	9.99%	$52,341,941	7.64%	$3,941,525	0.58%	$52,450,593	7.65%	$6,977,045	1.02%	$13,559,569	1.98%	$22,413,241	3.27%
Sunset Hills	8,496	$10,237,813	$6,926,552	67.66%	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	$1,033,792	10.10%	$691,805	6.76%	$369,835	3.61%	$760,316	7.43%	-$42,651	-0.42%	$27,946	0.27%	$470,218	4.59%
Sycamore Hills	668	$183,811	$104,265	56.72%	$34,929	19.00%	$14,557	7.92%	$1,883	1.02%	$17,794	9.68%	$10,188	5.54%	$0	0.00%	$92	0.05%	$103	0.06%	$0	0.00%
Town & Country	10,815	$13,795,338	$5,487,158	39.78%	$0	0	$2,587,211	18.75%	$2,624,714	19.03%	$1,016,795	7.37%	$1,173,409	8.51%	$315,136	2.28%	$111,746	0.81%	$171,242	1.24%	$307,927	2.23%
Twin Oaks	392	$1,179,335	$984,248	83.46%	$32,126	2.72%	$8,295	0.70%	$53,979	4.58%	$74,756	6.34%	0	0	$0	0.00%	$6,792	0.58%	$19,139	1.62%	$0	0.00%
University City	35,371	$31,491,848	$10,213,981	32.43%	$4,473,923	14.21%	$6,754,860	21.45%	$1,694,709	5.38%	$4,197,911	13.33%	$930,070	2.95%	$3,017,971	9.58%	$47,029	0.15%	$74,091	0.24%	$87,303	0.28%
Uplands Park	445	$162,363	$107,045	65.93%	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	$1,558	0.96%	$21,386	13.17%	$12,756	7.86%	$15,701	9.67%	$350	0.22%	$4	0.00%	$3,563	2.19%	$0	0.00%
Valley Park	6,942	$6,163,021	$2,074,726	33.66%	$1,378,280	22.36%	$810,678	13.15%	$347,084	5.63%	$1,310,964	21.27%	$170,099	2.76%	$3,580	0.06%	$7,559	0.12%	$59,782	0.97%	$269	0.00%
Velda City	1,420	$969,631	$269,822	27.83%	$103,323	10.66%	$103,203	10.64%	$41,264	4.26%	$52,982	5.46%	$375,631	38.74%	$20,847	2.15%	$3,108	0.32%	$24,368	2.51%	$66,363	6.84%
Velda Village Hills	1,055	$396,735	$199,677	50.33%	$26,100	6.58%	$61,860	15.59%	$2,718	0.69%	$50,592	12.75%	$50,146	12.64%	$1,299	0.33%	$41	0.01%	$4,302	1.08%	$0	0.00%
Vinita Park	1,880	$2,624,317	$245,114	9.34%	$308,424	11.75%	$432,262	16.47%	$680,755	25.94%	$386,590	14.73%	$410,784	15.65%	$3,389	0.13%	$1,600	0.06%	$155,399	5.92%	$0	0.00%
Vinita Terrace	277
Warson Woods	1,962	$1,503,438	$540,087	35.92%	$212,370	14.13%	$424,323	28.22%	$68,087	4.53%	$142,845	9.50%	$31,966	2.13%	$39,254	2.61%	$2,736	0.18%	$41,770	2.78%	$0	0.00%
Webster Groves	22,995	$22,345,871	$6,302,992	28.21%	$4,256,034	19.05%	$3,829,532	17.14%	$1,126,167	5.04%	$2,919,932	13.07%	$973,987	4.36%	$2,152,995	9.63%	$72,819	0.33%	$710,718	3.18%	$695	0.00%
Wellston	2,313	$2,826,475	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided
Westwood	278	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept
Wilbur Park	471	$141,400	$98,338	69.55%	$0	0	$4,293	3.04%	$0	0.00%	$25,288	17.88%	$1,687	1.19%	$0	0.00%	$11,795	8.34%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%
Wildwood	35,517	$14,950,103	$7,405,774	49.54%	$0	0	$3,464,029	23.17%	$137,916	0.92%	$3,057,126	20.45%	$586,604	3.92%	$5,675	0.04%	$42,110	0.28%	$61,792	0.41%	$189,077	1.26%
Winchester	1,547	$658,963	$302,892	45.96%	$39,122	5.94%	$157,684	23.93%	$24,903	3.78%	$79,823	12.11%	$44,717	6.79%	$0	0.00%	$3,824	0.58%	$4,994	0.76%	$1,005	0.15%
Woodson Terrace	4,063	$3,785,379	$2,194,210	57.97%	$176,846	4.67%	$368,165	9.73%	$344,464	9.10%	$207,677	5.49%	$248,247	6.56%	$0	0.00%	$5,213	0.14%	$240,558	6.35%	$0	0.00%
TOTAL	1,318,610	$2,149,514,967	$788,992,201	N/A	$262,513,241	N/A	$237,799,419	N/A	$134,605,990	N/A	$202,578,237	N/A	$60,167,803	N/A	$141,911,062	N/A	$10,209,509	N/A	$55,303,409	N/A	$248,161,443	N/A
AVERAGE	14,329	$23,883,500	$8,865,081	40.34%	$3,162,810	10.73%	$2,797,640	13.98%	$1,512,427	4.74%	$2,383,273	9.67%	$676,043	11.39%	$1,594,506	5.05%	$114,714	0.36%	$621,387	2.95%	$2,788,331	2.53%
MEDIAN	3,393	$2,969,793	$1,032,872	39.17%	$169,421	9.97%	$424,323	13.24%	$130,189	3.78%	$207,677	8.15%	$351,583	6.29%	$39,254	1.95%	$3,108	0.14%	$61,792	1.64%	$0	0.00%
*Breakdown of taxes not provided in statement of changes in fund balances. Utilized change in net position instead.
**Breakdown of taxes not provided.

As the preceding table shows, the St. Louis region relies heavily on revenue from sales taxes. This phenomenon results from a combination of the absence of state restrictions and extreme regional fragmentation. This pairing results in an unsettling regional disconnect between the actual costs of government and citizens’ perceptions of those costs.

The State of Missouri levies a sales tax of 4.225%. However, unlike Indiana and Kentucky, which levy flat sales tax rates of 7% and 6% respectively, Missouri currently allows for municipalities to levy local sales taxes in addition to the state sales tax rate. This was not always permitted. Prior to 1969, local sales taxes for municipalities were not authorized. The two principal revenue sources at the time for local governments were property and utility taxes. ^[6] However, in 1969, the State of Missouri began to authorize local sales taxes. Almost immediately after, 56 municipalities in St. Louis County approved a local sales tax, with many lowering their city’s property tax accordingly. ^[7] Numerous additional municipal sales taxes have been added since this time.

The lack of a flat rate in Missouri, combined with the fragmentation of the St. Louis region, creates a disconnect between citizens and the actual costs of services provided to them. As St. Louis municipalities were quick to realize, because of the small size and close proximity of so many neighboring municipalities, the cost of local government could be spread to citizens of those other municipalities rather than be borne solely by their own citizenry. The passage of the first municipal sales tax and its pairing with corresponding reductions of property tax rates serves as direct proof of this model’s intent. It is a model that has been perfected by many municipalities, to the detriment of the whole of the region. After all, issuing a property tax or other direct tax on your own citizens is politically unpopular, while attracting retail and spreading the cost burden across a million potential customers levies an indirect tax on a far greater pool of people, many of whom do not have a vote in that municipality’s local elections.

Because of the prisoner’s dilemma that is created for municipal leaders in the current system (i.e. either chase the sales tax revenue or lose out to the communities that do), the St. Louis region has gone from having no municipal sales tax to gathering 36.7% of its annual regional revenue from sales taxes. Sixty-nine of the ninety-two local governments in the St. Louis region count sales taxes as their number-one source of revenue. The pursuit of externally sourced municipal revenue amongst each municipality’s neighbors is prolific. One need only consult Better Together’s report on economic development ^[8] and tax increment financing (TIF) ^[9] for numerous examples. The result is an average sales tax rate in the St. Louis region of 8.04%. In some special taxing districts in the region, sales tax rates can eclipse 10% and rank among the highest in the country, an over 30-percent increase from Missouri’s average sales tax rate of 7%.

Table 3A
MUNICIPALITY	POPULATION	TOTAL REVENUE	SALES TAX REVENUE	SALES TAX % OF TOTAL REVENUE	PROPERTY TAX REVENUE	PROPERTY TAX % OF TOTAL REVENUE	UTILITY GROSS RECEIPTS REVENUE	UTILITY TAX % OF TOTAL REVENUE	COURT FINES AND FEES REVENUE	COURT FINES AND FEES % OF TOTAL REVENUE
Ballwin	30,404	$21,623,093	$9,430,333	43.61%	$0	0	$3,724,984	17.23%	$865,474	4.00%
Bel-Nor	1,499	$908,409	$237,161	26.11%	$84,337	9.28%	$66,430	7.31%	$67,794	7.46%
Bel-Ridge	2,737	$2,037,856	$597,385	29.31%	$322,727	15.84%	$58,613	2.88%	$373,644	18.34%
Bella Villa	729	$702,969	$45,004	6.40%	$0	0	$53,531	7.61%	$416,373	59.23%
Bellefontaine Neighbors	10,860	$8,782,944	$2,339,048	26.63%	$580,009	6.60%	$1,449,568	16.50%	$1,218,842	13.88%
Bellerive Acres	188	$266,027	$96,413	36.24%	$30,581	11.50%	$38,355	14.42%	$65,006	24.44%
Berkeley	8,978	$11,971,505	$3,359,148	28.06%	$2,158,838	18.03%	$2,613,767	21.83%	$1,195,744	9.99%
Beverly Hills	574	$848,625	$118,662	13.98%	$19,865	2.34%	$100,271	11.82%	$402,636	47.45%
Black Jack	6,929	$2,910,119	$1,500,734	51.57%	$308,849	10.61%	$409,682	14.08%	$110,868	3.81%
Breckenridge Hills	4,746	$2,680,534	$869,587	32.44%	$92,592	3.45%	$303,537	11.32%	$649,475	24.23%
Brentwood	8,055	$24,073,658	$13,547,391	56.27%	$4,124,973	17.13%	$3,061,715	12.72%	$338,198	1.40%
Bridgeton	11,550	$21,298,574	$11,913,136	55.93%	$660,579	3.10%	$2,940,998	13.81%	$431,414	2.03%
Calverton Park	1,293	$928,799	$367,501	39.57%	Breakdown of sales and property taxes not provided	Breakdown of sales and property taxes not provided	$10,851	1.17%	$524,266	56.45%
Champ	13	$46,094	$0	0.00%	$0	0	$41,295	89.59%	$0	0
Charlack	1,363	$1,012,798	$623,154	61.53%	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	$234,601	23.16%
Chesterfield	47,484	$40,715,574	$19,706,655	48.40%	$947,075	2.33%	$7,429,472	18.25%	$1,177,957	2.89%
Clarkson Valley	2,632	$931,387	$404,792	43.46%	$169,421	18.19%	$99,736	10.71%	$140,673	15.10%
Clayton	15,939	$30,030,471	$6,186,273	20.60%	$7,095,591	23.63%	$5,452,949	18.16%	$1,067,415	3.55%
Cool Valley	1,196	$1,016,326	$255,445	25.13%	$37,691	3.71%	$210,692	20.73%	$271,181	26.68%
Country Club Hills	1,274	$1,150,238	$262,793	22.85%	$169,469	14.73%	$142,799	12.41%	$326,823	28.41%
Country Life Acres	74	$91,047	$10,644	11.69%	$2,120	2.33%	$2,007	2.20%	$0	0
Crestwood	11,912	$12,227,321	$5,922,020	48.43%	$1,093,692	8.94%	$1,618,659	13.24%	$220,323	1.80%
Creve Coeur	17,833	$18,607,694	$6,876,143	36.95%	$558,971	3.00%	$6,171,405	33.17%	$1,546,944	8.31%
Crystal Lake Park	470	$310,383	$98,131	31.62%	$112,219	36.16%	$41,220	13.28%	$0	0
Dellwood	5,025	$3,029,467	$2,057,552	67.92%	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	$333,341	11.00%
Des Peres	8,373	$20,904,765	$12,699,174	60.75%	$0	0	$1,216,374	5.82%	$430,281	2.06%
Edmundson	834	$2,546,057	$948,232	37.24%	$82,532	3.24%	$127,179	5.00%	$478,807	18.81%
Ellisville	9,133	$9,838,127	$5,392,558	54.81%	$293,833	2.99%	$1,896,688	19.28%	$205,204	2.09%
Eureka	10,189	$9,307,839	$5,120,853	55.02%	$826,135	8.88%	$1,261,238	13.55%	$225,087	2.42%
Fenton	4,022	$11,508,493	$6,741,545	58.58%	$0	0	$1,463,607	12.72%	$447,341	3.89%
Ferguson	21,203	$19,196,634	$7,687,363	40.05%	$3,327,974	17.34%	$2,459,500	12.81%	$2,096,617	10.92%
Flordell Hills	822	$516,749	$201,217	38.94%	$15,979	3.09%	$33,032	6.39%	$225,861	43.71%
Florissant	52,158	$31,854,527	$15,694,200	49.27%	$0	0	$6,348,324	19.93%	$2,491,846	7.82%
Frontenac	3,482	$8,616,840	$4,557,214	52.89%	$1,175,159	13.64%	$549,568	6.38%	$510,188	5.92%
Glen Echo Park	160	$57,046	$24,206	42.43%	$18,389	32.24%	$2,971	5.21%	$0	0
Glendale	5,925	$5,359,655	$1,335,323	24.91%	$769,414	14.36%	$1,024,281	19.11%	$195,253	3.64%
Grantwood Village	863	$420,777	$228,287	54.25%	$76,702	18.23%	$1,982	0.47%	$36,820	8.75%
Green Park	2,622	$1,676,312	$824,098	49.16%	$0	0	$545,092	32.52%	$0	0
Greendale	651	$405,937	$139,816	34.44%	$44,244	10.90%	$65,933	16.24%	$50,981	12.56%
Hanley Hills	2,101	$800,219	$409,995	51.24%	$91,072	11.38%	$38,520	4.81%	$121,142	15.14%
Hazelwood	25,703	$38,720,756	$13,680,453	35.33%	$10,857,634	28.04%	$3,419,259	8.83%	$1,847,704	4.77%
Hillsdale	1,478	$935,919	$313,977	33.55%	$95,778	10.23%	$69,723	7.45%	$316,009	33.76%
Huntleigh	334	$155,540	$48,840	31.40%	$82,693	53.17%	$7,728	4.97%	$0	0
Jennings	14,712	$11,579,509	$5,480,440	47.33%	$846,487	7.31%	$1,817,675	15.70%	$727,982	6.29%
Kinloch	298	$265,891	$46,535	17.50%	$22,692	8.53%	$17,790	6.69%	$43,336	16.30%
Kirkwood	27,540	$27,783,803	$9,368,286	33.72%	$4,380,226	15.77%	$5,536,145	19.93%	$599,254	2.16%
Ladue	8,521	$16,805,515	$4,338,408	25.82%	$4,520,958	26.90%	$3,470,981	20.65%	$589,480	3.51%
Lakeshire	1,432	$591,404	$299,040	50.56%	$56,956	9.63%	$121,293	20.51%	$22,324	3.77%
Mackenzie	134	$51,308	$20,098	39.17%	$3,119	6.08%	$6,556	12.78%	0	0
Manchester	18,094	$18,713,790	$12,257,239	65.50%	$1,975,207	10.55%	$1,606,432	8.58%	$467,784	2.50%
Maplewood	8,046	$15,117,862	$7,230,054	47.82%	$2,629,248	17.39%	$2,058,967	13.62%	$1,075,639	7.12%
Marlborough	2,179.	$877,689	$320,304	36.49%	$279,904	31.89%	$63,268	7.21%	$96,198	10.96%
Maryland Heights	27,472	$36,261,487	$9,505,602	26.21%	$0	0	$6,102,374	16.83%	$2,056,723	5.67%
Moline Acres	2,442	$2,049,957	$656,485	32.02%	$223,624	10.91%	$231,624	11.30%	$600,837	29.31%
Normandy	5,008	$4,462,076	$994,997	22.30%	$157,379	3.53%	$781,510	17.51%	$1,502,614	33.68%
Northwoods	4,227	$3,879,096	$1,032,872	26.63%	$488,066	12.58%	$727,748	18.76%	$475,564	12.26%
Norwood Court	959	$226,182	$162,118	71.68%	$0	0	$13,155	5.82%	$963	0.43%
Oakland	1,381	$773,608	$285,087	36.85%	$116,391	15.05%	$145,056	18.75%	$93,113	12.04%
Olivette	7,737	$9,615,226	$8,015,254	83.36%	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	$282,012	2.93%
Overland	16,062	$9,855,788	$3,136,268	31.82%	$332,275	3.37%	$2,501,421	25.38%	$745,173	7.56%
Pacific	7,002	$5,301,864	$1,684,239	31.77%	$528,851	9.97%	$1,339,676	25.27%	$161,502	3.05%
Pagedale	3,304	$2,778,093	$1,090,378	39.25%	$189,823	6.83%	$471,471	16.97%	$351,583	12.66%
Pasadena Hills	930	$571,060	$194,576	34.07%	$50,594	8.86%	$116,370	20.38%	$12,353	2.16%
Pasadena Park	470	$229,738	$96,690	42.09%	$31,141	13.56%	$10,479	4.56%	$3,423	1.49%
Pine Lawn	3,275	$3,910,584	$677,848	17.33%	$69,134	1.77%	$333,465	8.53%	$2,441,228	62.43%
Richmond Heights	8,603	$22,094,178	$10,461,245	47.35%	$2,918,383	13.21%	$1,803,616	8.16%	$700,189	3.17%
Riverview	2,856	$1,157,780	$632,869	54.66%	$78,494	6.78%	$49,315	4.26%	$164,976	14.25%
Rock Hill	4,635	$5,408,245	$2,158,184	39.91%	$1,056,616	19.54%	$877,088	16.22%	$540,665	10.00%
Saint Ann	13,020	$11,495,868	$1,171,425	10.19%	$725,933	6.31%	$1,543,069	13.42%	$3,316,124	28.85%
Saint John	6,517	$5,319,468	$2,662,516	50.05%	$617,239	11.60%	$56,767	1.07%	$873,134	16.41%
Saint Louis	319,294	$755,649,000	$173,018,000	22.90%	$81,797,000	10.82%	$97,344,000	12.88%	$10,810,000	1.43%
Shrewsbury	6,254	$6,912,879	$2,434,586	35.22%	$1,108,570	16.04%	$1,065,052	15.41%	$420,902	6.09%
STL County	998,954	$685,336,074	$323,231,222	47.16%	$109,940,317	16.04%	$31,991,013	4.67%	$3,941,525	0.58%
Sunset Hills	8,496	$10,237,813	$6,926,552	67.66%	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	$369,835	3.61%
Sycamore Hills	668	$183,811	$104,265	56.72%	$34,929	19.00%	$14,557	7.92%	$10,188	5.54%
Town & Country	10,815	$13,795,338	$5,487,158	39.78%	$0	0	$2,587,211	18.75%	$1,173,409	8.51%
Twin Oaks	392	$1,179,335	$984,248	83.46%	$32,126	2.72%	$8,295	0.70%	0	0
University City	35,371	$31,491,848	$10,213,981	32.43%	$4,473,923	14.21%	$6,754,860	21.45%	$930,070	2.95%
Uplands Park	445	$162,363	$107,045	65.93%	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	$1,558	0.96%	$15,701	9.67%
Valley Park	6,942	$6,163,021	$2,074,726	33.66%	$1,378,280	22.36%	$810,678	13.15%	$170,099	2.76%
Velda City	1,420	$969,631	$269,822	27.83%	$103,323	10.66%	$103,203	10.64%	$375,631	38.74%
Velda Village Hills	1,055	$396,735	$199,677	50.33%	$26,100	6.58%	$61,860	15.59%	$50,146	12.64%
Vinita Park	1,880	$2,624,317	$245,114	9.34%	$308,424	11.75%	$432,262	16.47%	$410,784	15.65%
Vinita Terrace	277
Warson Woods	1,962	$1,503,438	$540,087	35.92%	$212,370	14.13%	$424,323	28.22%	$31,966	2.13%
Webster Groves	22,995	$22,345,871	$6,302,992	28.21%	$4,256,034	19.05%	$3,829,532	17.14%	$973,987	4.36%
Wellston	2,313	$2,826,475	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided
Westwood	278	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept
Wilbur Park	471	$141,400	$98,338	69.55%	$0	0	$4,293	3.04%	$1,687	1.19%
Wildwood	35,517	$14,950,103	$7,405,774	49.54%	$0	0	$3,464,029	23.17%	$586,604	3.92%
Winchester	1,547	$658,963	$302,892	45.96%	$39,122	5.94%	$157,684	23.93%	$44,717	6.79%
Woodson Terrace	4,063	$3,785,379	$2,194,210	57.97%	$176,846	4.67%	$368,165	9.73%	$248,247	6.56%
TOTAL	1,318,610	$2,149,514,967	$788,992,201	N/A	$262,513,241	N/A	$237,799,419	N/A	$60,167,803	N/A
AVERAGE	14,329	$23,883,500	$8,865,081	40.34%	$3,162,810	10.73%	$2,797,640	13.98%	$676,043	11.39%
MEDIAN	3,393	$2,969,793	$1,032,872	39.17%	$169,421	9.97%	$424,323	13.24%	$351,583	6.29%
*Breakdown of taxes not provided in statement of changes in fund balances. Utilized change in net position instead.
**Breakdown of taxes not provided.

Even more troubling is the inequity perpetuated, in part, by the current system of relying on local sales taxes for municipal funding. Just over 40 years ago, property taxes were one of the two primary sources for the funding of municipal government. Today, three of the ten wealthiest suburbs in the region do not levy a municipal property tax: Town & Country, Wildwood, and Des Peres. Town & Country brings in nearly 40% of its revenue ($13,795,338) from sales tax revenue. Wildwood brings in $7,405,774, or 50%, of its overall revenue from sales taxes. Finally, as home to West County Mall, Des Peres brings in over 60% of its revenue ($12,699,174) from sales taxes. In contrast, Kinloch, Bel-Ridge, and Country Club Hills all have poverty rates above 40% and levy some of the highest residential property tax rates in the region, ranging from 1.0 to 1.426.

The previous example is far from an anomaly. The 16 wealthiest municipalities in the St. Louis region, all of which have median household incomes in the six figures, collected $44,461,884 in sales tax revenue in 2014, accounting for 46.7% of their municipal revenue. That 46.7% is a full 10% more than the 36.7% regional average, which is itself high. For further context, these same 16 municipalities only collected $7,268,028 in property taxes.

Table 3B
MUNICIPALITY	POPULATION	TOTAL REVENUE	LICENSES AND PERMITS REVENUE	LICENSES AND PERMITS % OF TOTAL REVENUE	INTERGOVERNMENTAL REVENUE	INTERGOVERNMENTAL % OF TOTAL REVENUE	CHARGES FOR SERVICE REVENUE	CHARGES FOR SERVICE % OF TOTAL REVENUE	INVESTMENT INCOME REVENUE	INVESTMENT INCOME % OF TOTAL REVENUE	MISC REVENUE	MISC % OF TOTAL REVENUE	OTHER REVENUE	OTHER % OF TOTAL REVENUE
Ballwin	30,404	$21,623,093	$1,637,987	7.58%	$1,842,919	8.52%	$2,709,312	12.53%	$128,774	0.60%	$240,582	1.11%	$1,042,728	4.82%
Bel-Nor	1,499	$908,409	$21,123	2.33%	$211,012	23.23%	$1,522	0.17%	$174	0.02%	$218,856	24.09%	$0	0.00%
Bel-Ridge	2,737	$2,037,856	$217,119	10.65%	$94,255	4.63%	$8,935	0.44%	$530	0.03%	$31,399	1.54%	$333,249	16.35%
Bella Villa	729	$702,969	$1,905	0.27%	$144,603	20.57%	$0	0.00%	$2,755	0.39%	$0	0.00%	$38,798	5.52%
Bellefontaine Neighbors	10,860	$8,782,944	$123,338	1.40%	$2,847,475	32.42%	$171,213	1.95%	$11,320	0.13%	$28,350	0.32%	$13,781	0.16%
Bellerive Acres	188	$266,027	$17,885	6.72%	$7,568	2.84%	$0	0.00%	$1,147	0.43%	$9,072	3.41%	$0	0.00%
Berkeley	8,978	$11,971,505	$1,249,640	10.44%	$752,621	6.29%	$0	0.00%	$3,589	0.03%	$0	0.00%	$638,158	5.33%
Beverly Hills	574	$848,625	$25,711	3.03%	$22,542	2.66%	$154,790	18.24%	$341	0.04%	$3,807	0.45%	$0	0.00%
Black Jack	6,929	$2,910,119	$42,811	1.47%	$353,633	12.15%	$7,175	0.25%	$3,776	0.13%	$172,591	5.93%	$0	0.00%
Breckenridge Hills	4,746	$2,680,534	$140,392	5.24%	$241,239	9.00%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%	$383,712	14.31%	$0	0.00%
Brentwood	8,055	$24,073,658	$1,788,303	7.43%	$1,199,400	4.98%	$1,145,565	4.76%	$22,637	0.09%	$162,598	0.68%	$194,466	0.81%
Bridgeton	11,550	$21,298,574	$1,603,798	7.53%	$1,541,508	7.24%	$1,556,739	7.31%	$176,690	0.83%	$402,990	1.89%	$0	0.00%
Calverton Park	1,293	$928,799	$11,057	1.19%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%	$250	0.03%	$11,350	1.22%	$3,523	0.38%
Champ	13	$46,094	$2,694	5.84%	$2,086	4.53%	$0	0.00%	$19	0.04%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%
Charlack	1,363	$1,012,798	$64,185	6.34%	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%	$90,859	8.97%	$0	0.00%
Chesterfield	47,484	$40,715,574	$1,605,721	3.94%	$7,286,575	17.90%	$1,760,938	4.32%	$61,750	0.15%	$739,431	1.82%	$0	0.00%
Clarkson Valley	2,632	$931,387	$19,545	2.10%	$87,725	9.42%	$0	0.00%	$1,657	0.18%	$7,838	0.84%	$0	0.00%
Clayton	15,939	$30,030,471	$1,617,546	5.39%	$4,121,545	13.72%	$3,596,743	11.98%	$138,456	0.46%	$151,949	0.51%	$602,004	2.00%
Cool Valley	1,196	$1,016,326	$64,730	6.37%	$63,371	6.24%	$0	0.00%	$2,105	0.21%	$111,111	10.93%	$0	0.00%
Country Club Hills	1,274	$1,150,238	$15,450	1.34%	$33,126	2.88%	$141,500	12.30%	$347	0.03%	$57,931	5.04%	$0	0.00%
Country Life Acres	74	$91,047	$0	0.00%	$33,789	37.11%	$42,270	46.43%	$127	0.14%	$90	0.10%	$0	0.00%
Crestwood	11,912	$12,227,321	$779,996	6.38%	$484,583	3.96%	$650,599	5.32%	$27,608	0.23%	$1,429,841	11.69%	$0	0.00%
Creve Coeur	17,833	$18,607,694	$933,612	5.02%	$1,871,204	10.06%	$141,060	0.76%	$287,644	1.55%	$220,711	1.19%	$0	0.00%
Crystal Lake Park	470	$310,383	$5,530	1.78%	$34,891	11.24%	$0	0.00%	$1,635	0.53%	$16,757	5.40%	$0	0.00%
Dellwood	5,025	$3,029,467	$83,110	2.74%	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	$235,840	7.78%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%	$319,624	10.55%
Des Peres	8,373	$20,904,765	$1,547,242	7.40%	$1,195,705	5.72%	$3,149,371	15.07%	$58,005	0.28%	$608,613	2.91%	$0	0.00%
Edmundson	834	$2,546,057	$403,939	15.87%	$73,233	2.88%	$0	0.00%	$12,778	0.50%	$404,606	15.89%	$14,751	0.58%
Ellisville	9,133	$9,838,127	$589,208	5.99%	$226,704	2.30%	$359,730	3.66%	$72,904	0.74%	$63,935	0.65%	$0	0.00%
Eureka	10,189	$9,307,839	$273,248	2.94%	$769,405	8.27%	$608,523	6.54%	$34,206	0.37%	$189,145	2.03%	$0	0.00%
Fenton	4,022	$11,508,493	$0	0.00%	$581,162	5.05%	$1,799,525	15.64%	$35,185	0.31%	$71,236	0.62%	$368,892	3.21%
Ferguson	21,203	$19,196,634	$739,497	3.85%	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	$780,373	4.07%	$227,521	1.19%	$1,846,096	9.62%	$0	0.00%
Flordell Hills	822	$516,749	$9,447	1.83%	$23,870	4.62%	$523	0.10%	$11	0.00%	$6,810	1.32%	$0	0.00%
Florissant	52,158	$31,854,527	$1,491,579	4.68%	$2,915,505	9.15%	$1,512,117	4.75%	$17,707	0.06%	$1,383,249	4.34%	$0	0.00%
Frontenac	3,482	$8,616,840	$487,565	5.66%	$338,720	3.93%	$482,222	5.60%	$30,841	0.36%	$428,795	4.98%	$56,568	0.66%
Glen Echo Park	160	$57,046	$350	0.61%	$7,976	13.98%	$2,640	4.63%	$35	0.06%	$479	0.84%	$0	0.00%
Glendale	5,925	$5,359,655	$255,141	4.76%	$1,325,440	24.73%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%	$186,661	3.48%	$268,142	5.00%
Grantwood Village	863	$420,777	$0	0.00%	$50,845	12.08%	$25,785	6.13%	$341	0.08%	$15	0.00%	$0	0.00%
Green Park	2,622	$1,676,312	$29,272	1.75%	$217,059	12.95%	$50,296	3.00%	$9,380	0.56%	$1,115	0.07%	$0	0.00%
Greendale	651	$405,937	$7,052	1.74%	$33,044	8.14%	$52,963	13.05%	$609	0.15%	$792	0.20%	$10,503	2.59%
Hanley Hills	2,101	$800,219	$53,442	6.68%	$84,630	10.58%	$0	0.00%	$1,418	0.18%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%
Hazelwood	25,703	$38,720,756	$3,772,101	9.74%	$2,186,136	5.65%	$498,353	1.29%	$63,076	0.16%	$1,032,985	2.67%	$1,363,055	3.52%
Hillsdale	1,478	$935,919	$18,304	1.96%	$57,005	6.09%	$58,260	6.22%	$7	0.00%	$6,856	0.73%	$0	0.00%
Huntleigh	334	$155,540	$2,200	1.41%	$13,501	8.68%	$0	0.00%	$77	0.05%	$500	0.32%	$0	0.00%
Jennings	14,712	$11,579,509	$335,330	2.90%	$763,081	6.59%	$911,059	7.87%	$663	0.01%	$284,221	2.45%	$412,571	3.56%
Kinloch	298	$265,891	$675	0.25%	$15,263	5.74%	$118,750	44.66%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%	$850	0.32%
Kirkwood	27,540	$27,783,803	$2,116,261	7.62%	$2,499,795	9.00%	$2,534,545	9.12%	$35,659	0.13%	$662,112	2.38%	$0	0.00%
Ladue	8,521	$16,805,515	$617,061	3.67%	$880,562	5.24%	$389,850	2.32%	$53,064	0.32%	$1,901,057	11.31%	$0	0.00%
Lakeshire	1,432	$591,404	$15,294	2.59%	$75,897	12.83%	$0	0.00%	$600	0.10%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%
Mackenzie	134	$51,308	$817	1.59%	$4,184	8.15%	$15,662	30.53%	$28	0.05%	$843	1.64%	$0	0.00%
Manchester	18,094	$18,713,790	$339,383	1.81%	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	$416,325	2.22%	$163,907	0.88%	$278,016	1.49%	$0	0.00%
Maplewood	8,046	$15,117,862	$832,948	5.51%	$164,916	1.09%	$51,431	0.34%	$8,306	0.05%	$460,175	3.04%	$0	0.00%
Marlborough	2,179.	$877,689	$7,575	0.86%	$102,044	11.63%	$3,770	0.43%	$4,627	0.53%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%
Maryland Heights	27,472	$36,261,487	$634,113	1.75%	$2,820,727	7.78%	$1,908,468	5.26%	$608,117	1.68%	$103,159	0.28%	$12,522,204	34.53%
Moline Acres	2,442	$2,049,957	$73,424	3.58%	$133,642	6.52%	$0	0.00%	$2,175	0.11%	$42,251	2.06%	$85,895	4.19%
Normandy	5,008	$4,462,076	$39,773	0.89%	$265,638	5.95%	$52,985	1.19%	$601	0.01%	$50,179	1.12%	$616,400	13.81%
Northwoods	4,227	$3,879,096	$130,189	3.36%	$938,489	24.19%	$0	0.00%	$1,831	0.05%	$84,337	2.17%	$0	0.00%
Norwood Court	959	$226,182	$4,182	1.85%	$41,935	18.54%	$0	0.00%	$280	0.12%	$3,549	1.57%	$0	0.00%
Oakland	1,381	$773,608	$28,505	3.68%	$70,839	9.16%	$0	0.00%	$3,844	0.50%	$30,773	3.98%	$0	0.00%
Olivette	7,737	$9,615,226	$419,501	4.36%	$71,323	0.74%	$657,535	6.84%	$357	0.00%	$169,244	1.76%	$0	0.00%
Overland	16,062	$9,855,788	$1,301,063	13.20%	$882,920	8.96%	$0	0.00%	$14,650	0.15%	$290,430	2.95%	$651,488	6.61%
Pacific	7,002	$5,301,864	$177,079	3.34%	$469,829	8.86%	$138,426	2.61%	$3,427	0.06%	$2,566	0.05%	$796,269	15.02%
Pagedale	3,304	$2,778,093	$297,638	10.71%	$202,044	7.27%	$32,444	1.17%	$4,694	0.17%	$138,018	4.97%	$0	0.00%
Pasadena Hills	930	$571,060	$5,778	1.01%	$42,649	7.47%	$0	0.00%	$279	0.05%	$30,282	5.30%	$118,179	20.69%
Pasadena Park	470	$229,738	$3,407	1.48%	$24,718	10.76%	$57,529	25.04%	$2,351	1.02%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%
Pine Lawn	3,275	$3,910,584	$70,297	1.80%	$167,519	4.28%	$137,135	3.51%	$609	0.02%	$13,327	0.34%	$22	0.00%
Richmond Heights	8,603	$22,094,178	$1,199,258	5.43%	$2,236,000	10.12%	$2,105,678	9.53%	$183,669	0.83%	$486,140	2.20%	$0	0.00%
Riverview	2,856	$1,157,780	$30,421	2.63%	$133,300	11.51%	$14,800	1.28%	$1,361	0.12%	$52,244	4.51%	$0	0.00%
Rock Hill	4,635	$5,408,245	$231,516	4.28%	$295,796	5.47%	$0	0.00%	$21,065	0.39%	$227,315	4.20%	$0	0.00%
Saint Ann	13,020	$11,495,868	$512,182	4.46%	$797,294	6.94%	$1,131,743	9.84%	$1,647	0.01%	$267,323	2.33%	$2,029,128	17.65%
Saint John	6,517	$5,319,468	$200,633	3.77%	$281,730	5.30%	$37,212	0.70%	$0	0.00%	$522,281	9.82%	$76,076	1.43%
Saint Louis	319,294	$755,649,000	$26,004,000	3.44%	$88,069,000	11.65%	$49,867,000	6.60%	$364,000	0.05%	$23,048,000	3.05%	$202,022,000	26.73%
Shrewsbury	6,254	$6,912,879	$531,484	7.69%	$161,915	2.34%	$852,426	12.33%	$39,404	0.57%	$272,519	3.94%	$26,021	0.38%
STL County	998,954	$685,336,074	$68,489,608	9.99%	$52,341,941	7.64%	$52,450,593	7.65%	$6,977,045	1.02%	$13,559,569	1.98%	$22,413,241	3.27%
Sunset Hills	8,496	$10,237,813	$1,033,792	10.10%	$691,805	6.76%	$760,316	7.43%	-$42,651	-0.42%	$27,946	0.27%	$470,218	4.59%
Sycamore Hills	668	$183,811	$1,883	1.02%	$17,794	9.68%	$0	0.00%	$92	0.05%	$103	0.06%	$0	0.00%
Town & Country	10,815	$13,795,338	$2,624,714	19.03%	$1,016,795	7.37%	$315,136	2.28%	$111,746	0.81%	$171,242	1.24%	$307,927	2.23%
Twin Oaks	392	$1,179,335	$53,979	4.58%	$74,756	6.34%	$0	0.00%	$6,792	0.58%	$19,139	1.62%	$0	0.00%
University City	35,371	$31,491,848	$1,694,709	5.38%	$4,197,911	13.33%	$3,017,971	9.58%	$47,029	0.15%	$74,091	0.24%	$87,303	0.28%
Uplands Park	445	$162,363	$21,386	13.17%	$12,756	7.86%	$350	0.22%	$4	0.00%	$3,563	2.19%	$0	0.00%
Valley Park	6,942	$6,163,021	$347,084	5.63%	$1,310,964	21.27%	$3,580	0.06%	$7,559	0.12%	$59,782	0.97%	$269	0.00%
Velda City	1,420	$969,631	$41,264	4.26%	$52,982	5.46%	$20,847	2.15%	$3,108	0.32%	$24,368	2.51%	$66,363	6.84%
Velda Village Hills	1,055	$396,735	$2,718	0.69%	$50,592	12.75%	$1,299	0.33%	$41	0.01%	$4,302	1.08%	$0	0.00%
Vinita Park	1,880	$2,624,317	$680,755	25.94%	$386,590	14.73%	$3,389	0.13%	$1,600	0.06%	$155,399	5.92%	$0	0.00%
Vinita Terrace	277
Warson Woods	1,962	$1,503,438	$68,087	4.53%	$142,845	9.50%	$39,254	2.61%	$2,736	0.18%	$41,770	2.78%	$0	0.00%
Webster Groves	22,995	$22,345,871	$1,126,167	5.04%	$2,919,932	13.07%	$2,152,995	9.63%	$72,819	0.33%	$710,718	3.18%	$695	0.00%
Wellston	2,313	$2,826,475	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided	Breakdown not provided
Westwood	278	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept
Wilbur Park	471	$141,400	$0	0.00%	$25,288	17.88%	$0	0.00%	$11,795	8.34%	$0	0.00%	$0	0.00%
Wildwood	35,517	$14,950,103	$137,916	0.92%	$3,057,126	20.45%	$5,675	0.04%	$42,110	0.28%	$61,792	0.41%	$189,077	1.26%
Winchester	1,547	$658,963	$24,903	3.78%	$79,823	12.11%	$0	0.00%	$3,824	0.58%	$4,994	0.76%	$1,005	0.15%
Woodson Terrace	4,063	$3,785,379	$344,464	9.10%	$207,677	5.49%	$0	0.00%	$5,213	0.14%	$240,558	6.35%	$0	0.00%
TOTAL	1,318,610	$2,149,514,967	$134,605,990	N/A	$202,578,237	N/A	$141,911,062	N/A	$10,209,509	N/A	$55,303,409	N/A	$248,161,443	N/A
AVERAGE	14,329	$23,883,500	$1,512,427	4.74%	$2,383,273	9.67%	$1,594,506	5.05%	$114,714	0.36%	$621,387	2.95%	$2,788,331	2.53%
MEDIAN	3,393	$2,969,793	$130,189	3.78%	$207,677	8.15%	$39,254	1.95%	$3,108	0.14%	$61,792	1.64%	$0	0.00%

Just as many poorer municipalities utilized their courts to fund local government, many municipalities seek revenue through sales taxes. Both represent a politically expedient way to raise local municipal funds through a large municipal pool while increasing services at no direct cost to constituents. Two examples of this practice can be found in St. Ann and Edmundson. At one time, St. Ann was home to Northwest Plaza, the 27th largest mall in the United States, which brought sales tax revenue into the city. However, the mall slowly declined and closed in 2010. In response, St. Ann began running radar traps on I-70 near the airport and saw its revenue from court fines and fees reach $3,415,671, or 37.47% of its general revenue, in 2013, while property taxes accounted for only $360,746 in the same year. ^[10] The City of Edmundson offers an even more recent example of the pursuit for external funding sources. In 2013, the City of Edmundson collected $559,465 in municipal fines and fees, 34.86% of its general revenue. The focus on collecting traffic fines was made clear in a letter from the Mayor to the Edmundson police, reminding them that the fines they collected through citations would affect their pay pool. ^[11] Following the passage of Senate Bill 5, which lowered the amount of money municipalities could bring in from traffic fines, Edmundson quickly passed two measures. The first raises the fees for rental cars in Edmundson, which neighbors the airport. The second is an increase in the commercial property tax. When surveyed by the League of Women Voters, the city stated that it needed “the increased revenue to make up for the loss of monies from traffic fines following the changes from state reform.” ^[12] No corresponding hike was issued for residential property taxes in Edmundson.

As mentioned earlier in this report, the St. Louis region spends $714.95 more per capita on municipal services than Louisville. A simple review of how the St. Louis region generates revenue for municipal services highlights how such a significant overspend can come to be, through the lack of a direct cost to citizens for the services they receive and a corresponding absence of difficult conversations centered on the fragmentation of the St. Louis region and the need for reforms. Certainly, there are appropriate uses of a sales tax, especially for regional initiatives from which all parts of the region would benefit. However, the current intra-regional competition for sales tax revenue to be used for hyper-localized municipal purposes is in need of reform, whether via a regional or state cap on sales taxes as in Indiana, Kentucky, and formerly in Missouri, or through an improved mechanism for distributing the economic successes of the region in a more equitable manner across all communities.

Expenditures Across the St. Louis Region

The following table provides the total expenditures for St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and the 90 municipalities within St. Louis County. In addition, the top three expenditures for each municipality are provided. This table is meant to serve as an overview of what the collected revenues discussed in the previous section provide to citizens in the St. Louis region.

Table 4
MUNICIPALITY	RESIDENTIAL TAX RATE	COMMERCIAL TAX RATE	AGRICULTURAL TAX RATE	PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX RATE	PROPERTY TAX REVENUE	PROPERTY TAX % OF TOTAL REVENUE	SALES TAX RATE	SALES TAX RATE RANGE	SALES TAX REVENUE	SALES TAX % OF TOTAL REVENUE
Ballwin	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	$0	0	8.113%	8.113% - 9.113%	$9,430,333	43.61%
Bel-Nor	0.4960	0.4430	0.0000	0.5530	$84,337	9.28%	7.613%	7.613%	$237,161	26.11%
Bel-Ridge	1.1160	1.1160	0.0000	0.0000	$322,727	15.84%	8.363%	8.363%	$597,385	29.31%
Bella Villa	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	$0	0	7.613%	7.613%	$45,004	6.40%
Bellefontaine Neighbors	0.8530	0.8530	0.6030	0.8380	$580,009	6.60%	7.613%	7.613%	$2,339,048	26.63%
Bellerive Acres	0.8240	0.5150	0.0000	0.7900	$30,581	11.50%	7.863%	7.863% - 8.863%	$96,413	36.24%
Berkeley	1.2315	1.2425	1.2425	1.1625	$2,158,838	18.03%	9.113%	9.113%	$3,359,148	28.06%
Beverly Hills	0.2500	0.2500	0.0000	0.2320	$19,865	2.34%	8.113%	8.113%	$118,662	13.98%
Black Jack	0.5650	0.5650	0.5650	0.5650	$308,849	10.61%	7.613%	7.613%	$1,500,734	51.57%
Breckenridge Hills	0.2380	0.2180	0.0000	0.0000	$92,592	3.45%	7.863%	7.863%	$869,587	32.44%
Brentwood	0.6020	0.8310	0.0000	0.8210	$4,124,973	17.13%	8.613%	8.613% - 9.613%	$13,547,391	56.27%
Bridgeton	0.1600	0.2500	0.0000	0.0000	$660,579	3.10%	8.363%	8.363% - 9.363%	$11,913,136	55.93%
Calverton Park	0.3320	0.3340	0.0000	0.2980	Breakdown of sales and property taxes not provided	Breakdown of sales and property taxes not provided	7.613%	7.613%	$367,501	39.57%
Champ	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	$0	0	7.113%	7.113%	$0	0.00%
Charlack	0.2510	0.2410	0.0000	0.2570	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	7.613%	7.613%	$623,154	61.53%
Chesterfield	0.0300	0.0300	0.0300	0.0300	$947,075	2.33%	8.113%	8.113% - 9.488%	$19,706,655	48.40%
Clarkson Valley	0.1290	0.1270	0.1960	0.1530	$169,421	18.19%	7.113%	7.113%	$404,792	43.46%
Clayton	0.8980	0.9690	0.0000	0.9540	$7,095,591	23.63%	8.613%	8.613% - 9.613%	$6,186,273	20.60%
Cool Valley	0.3180	0.3500	0.0000	0.1650	$37,691	3.71%	7.613%	7.613 - 8.613%	$255,445	25.13%
Country Club Hills	1.4260	1.4430	0.0000	1.2330	$169,469	14.73%	8.863%	8.863 - 9.863%	$262,793	22.85%
Country Life Acres	0.3790	0.3950	0.0000	0.4200	$2,120	2.33%	7.113%	7.113%	$10,644	11.69%
Crestwood	0.2560	0.4310	0.0000	0.2780	$1,093,692	8.94%	8.613%	8.613% - 9.613%	$5,922,020	48.43%
Creve Coeur	0.0720	0.0790	0.0920	0.0000	$558,971	3.00%	7.863%	7.863% - 8.863%	$6,876,143	36.95%
Crystal Lake Park	0.7390	0.3410	0.0000	0.8080	$112,219	36.16%	7.613%	7.613%	$98,131	31.62%
Dellwood	0.2790	0.2440	0.0000	0.2350	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	8.113%	8.113% - 9.113%	$2,057,552	67.92%
Des Peres	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	$0	0	8.613%	8.613% - 9.613%	$12,699,174	60.75%
Edmundson	0.0000	0.5000	0.0000	0.0000	$82,532	3.24%	8.863%	8.863% - 10.863%	$948,232	37.24%
Ellisville	0.1500	0.1500	0.1250	0.0000	$293,833	2.99%	8.363%	8.363% - 9.363%	$5,392,558	54.81%
Eureka	0.3900	0.4130	0.4220	0.3880	$826,135	8.88%	8.113%	8.113% - 9.113%	$5,120,853	55.02%
Fenton	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	$0	0	7.613%	7.613% - 8.613%	$6,741,545	58.58%
Ferguson	1.3980	1.3910	1.3940	1.3890	$3,327,974	17.34%	8.613%	8.613% - 9.613%	$7,687,363	40.05%
Flordell Hills	0.7820	0.8820	0.0000	0.0000	$15,979	3.09%	7.613%	7.613%	$201,217	38.94%
Florissant	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	$0	0	8.113%	8.113% - 9.113%%	$15,694,200	49.27%
Frontenac	0.4980	0.5440	0.0000	0.5530	$1,175,159	13.64%	8.613%	8.613%	$4,557,214	52.89%
Glen Echo Park	0.5000	0.3140	0.0000	0.5000	$18,389	32.24%	7.113%	7.113%	$24,206	42.43%
Glendale	0.5030	0.5300	0.0000	0.6190	$769,414	14.36%	8.363%	8.363%	$1,335,323	24.91%
Grantwood Village	0.2370	0.1820	0.5000	0.2610	$76,702	18.23%	8.863%	8.863%	$228,287	54.25%
Green Park	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	$0	0	7.613%	7.613% - 8.613%	$824,098	49.16%
Greendale	0.6000	0.6000	0.0000	0.0000	$44,244	10.90%	8.113%	8.113%	$139,816	34.44%
Hanley Hills	0.5000	0.5000	0.0000	0.4500	$91,072	11.38%	7.613%	7.613%	$409,995	51.24%
Hazelwood	0.9890	0.9920	1.0000	0.9760	$10,857,634	28.04%	9.113%	9.113% - 10.113%	$13,680,453	35.33%
Hillsdale	0.5000	0.5000	0.0000	0.5000	$95,778	10.23%	7.613%	7.613%	$313,977	33.55%
Huntleigh	0.2000	0.2390	0.3100	0.2000	$82,693	53.17%	7.113%	7.113%	$48,840	31.40%
Jennings	1.2450	1.2450	0.0000	1.2450	$846,487	7.31%	8.363%	8.363% - 9.113%	$5,480,440	47.33%
Kinloch	1.0000	0.9820	0.0000	1.0000	$22,692	8.53%	8.363%	8.363%	$46,535	17.50%
Kirkwood	0.6140	0.6540	0.0000	0.6220	$4,380,226	15.77%	8.613%	8.613% - 9.613%	$9,368,286	33.72%
Ladue	0.7290	0.7500	1.0000	0.7560	$4,520,958	26.90%	8.363%	8.363% -9.363%	$4,338,408	25.82%
Lakeshire	0.3750	0.3750	0.0000	0.0000	$56,956	9.63%	7.613%	7.613%	$299,040	50.56%
Mackenzie	0.1610	0.1980	0.0000	0.1850	$3,119	6.08%	7.113%	7.113%	$20,098	39.17%
Manchester	0.2380	0.2380	0.0000	0.2430	$1,975,207	10.55%	8.363%	8.363% - 9.363%	$12,257,239	65.50%
Maplewood	0.7440	1.1090	0.0000	1.2300	$2,629,248	17.39%	8.613%	8.613% - 9.613%	$7,230,054	47.82%
Marlborough	0.1110	0.1170	0.0000	0.1110	$279,904	31.89%	8.363%	8.363% - 9.363%	$320,304	36.49%
Maryland Heights	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	$0	0	7.613%	7.613%	$9,505,602	26.21%
Moline Acres	1.4000	1.4000	1.4000	1.4000	$223,624	10.91%	7.613%	7.613% - 8.238%	$656,485	32.02%
Normandy	0.4000	0.4000	0.0000	0.4000	$157,379	3.53%	8.613%	8.613% - 9.613%	$994,997	22.30%
Northwoods	1.8403	1.7333	0.0000	1.7803	$488,066	12.58%	8.363%	8.363% - 9.363%	$1,032,872	26.63%
Norwood Court	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	$0	0	7.613%	7.613%	$162,118	71.68%
Oakland	0.2020	0.2520	0.0000	0.2370	$116,391	15.05%	8.113%	8.113%	$285,087	36.85%
Olivette	1.3340	1.4290	0.0000	1.4410	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	8.613%	8.613%	$8,015,254	83.36%
Overland	0.1880	0.2030	0.0000	0.2170	$332,275	3.37%	7.863%	7.863%	$3,136,268	31.82%
Pacific	0.4273	0.4273	0.4273	0.4273	$528,851	9.97%	8.113%	7.613% - 9.113%	$1,684,239	31.77%
Pagedale	0.2640	0.3410	0.0000	0.3500	$189,823	6.83%	8.363%	8.363%	$1,090,378	39.25%
Pasadena Hills	1.5022	1.6636	0.0000	1.4736	$50,594	8.86%	7.613%	7.613%	$194,576	34.07%
Pasadena Park	0.3770	0.0000	0.0000	0.3090	$31,141	13.56%	7.613%	7.613%	$96,690	42.09%
Pine Lawn	0.3000	0.3000	0.0000	0.2570	$69,134	1.77%	8.113%	8.113%	$677,848	17.33%
Richmond Heights	0.6100	0.6100	0.0000	0.6090	$2,918,383	13.21%	8.613%	8.613% - 10.613%	$10,461,245	47.35%
Riverview	0.4180	0.2950	0.0000	0.3110	$78,494	6.78%	7.613%	7.613%	$632,869	54.66%
Rock Hill	0.6690	0.6850	0.0000	0.7200	$1,056,616	19.54%	8.613%	8.613% - 10.613%	$2,158,184	39.91%
Saint Ann	0.5000	0.4740	0.0000	0.1930	$725,933	6.31%	8.363%	8.363% - 10.113%	$1,171,425	10.19%
Saint John	0.5000	0.5000	0.0000	0.4500	$617,239	11.60%	8.363%	8.363% - 9.363%	$2,662,516	50.05%
Saint Louis	1.6158	0.2930	0.0000		$81,797,000	10.82%	8.679%	8.679% - 10.679%	$173,018,000	22.90%
Shrewsbury	0.9990	0.9950	0.0000	1.0930	$1,108,570	16.04%	8.613%	8.613% - 9.613%	$2,434,586	35.22%
STL County	0.5230	0.5230	0.5230	0.5230	$109,940,317	16.04%	7.113%	7.113% - 8.863%	$323,231,222	47.16%
Sunset Hills	0.0560	0.0580	0.0600	0.0600	Breakdown of taxes not provided	Breakdown of taxes not provided	8.363%	8.363% - 9.363%	$6,926,552	67.66%
Sycamore Hills	0.3780	0.3690	0.0000	0.3680	$34,929	19.00%	7.113%	7.113%	$104,265	56.72%
Town & Country	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	$0	0	8.363%	8.363% - 8.863%	$5,487,158	39.78%
Twin Oaks	0.0000	0.3420	0.0000	0.0000	$32,126	2.72%	8.363%	8.363%	$984,248	83.46%
University City	0.7530	0.7310	0.0000	0.8790	$4,473,923	14.21%	8.613%	8/613% - 9.613%	$10,213,981	32.43%
Uplands Park	0.4540	0.5000	0.0000	0.3910		0.00%	7.613%	7.613%	$107,045	65.93%
Valley Park	0.4840	0.6680	0.0000	0.5700	$1,378,280	22.36%	8.113%	8.113% - 9.113%	$2,074,726	33.66%
Velda City	1.7183	1.7353	0.0000	1.6343	$103,323	10.66%	7.613%	7.613%	$269,822	27.83%
Velda Village Hills	0.4050	0.5000	0.0000	0.3780			7.613%	7.613%
Vinita Park	0.5070	0.4770	0.0000	0.4560	$308,424	11.75%	7.613%	7.613%	$245,114	9.34%
Vinita Terrace	0.1860	0.2500	0.0000	0.0000			7.613%	7.613%
Warson Woods	0.3750	0.4410	0.0000	0.0000	$212,370	14.13%	8.363%	8.363%	$540,087	35.92%
Webster Groves	0.7760	0.7600	0.0000	0.8660	$4,256,034	19.05%	8.613%	8.613% - 9.238%	$6,302,992	28.21%
Wellston	0.5880	0.5640	0.0000	0.6000			7.863%	7.863%
Westwood	0.0590	0.1000	0.0000	0.0000	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept	7.113%	7.113%	Records Not Kept	Records Not Kept
Wilbur Park	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	$0	0	7.613%	7.613%	$98,338	69.55%
Wildwood	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	0.0000	$0	0	7.613%	7.613% - 8.613%	$7,405,774	49.54%
Winchester	0.2160	0.1760	0.0000	0.2610	$39,122	5.94%	7.613%	7.613%	$302,892	45.96%
Woodson Terrace	0.3330	0.3140	0.0000	0.2510	$176,846	4.67%	8.863%	8.863% - 10.863%	$2,194,210	57.97%
TOTAL	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	$262,487,141	N/A	N/A	N/A	$788,792,523	N/A
AVERAGE	0.4920	0.4911	0.1075	0.4387	$3,201,063	10.65%	8.04%	N/A	$8,963,551	40.22%
MEDIAN	0.3950	0.3975	0.0000	0.3090	$169,445	9.97%	8.11%	N/A	$1,061,625	39.06%

The above table reinforces the findings of Better Together’s previous reports on police and fire protection, which highlighted the significant costs associated with the fragmented structure of the 43 fire departments and 58 police departments that operate in the St. Louis region. Fifty-three municipalities listed fire protection, police, or public safety overall as their top expenditure, with an additional twenty-six municipalities having one of the three as their second-largest cost.

What the data also shows is that, as discussed in the previous general administration report, general administration is costly in the St. Louis region. As mentioned, a Louisville-Jefferson County resident pays $126.73 per capita in general administration costs, which is $86.43 less per capita than in the St. Louis region. While Louisville-Jefferson County has 83 municipalities, it also has a consolidated regional government ^[13] that handles much of the administrative functions that the St. Louis region divides among 92 local governments. As a result, an incredibly inefficient and costly structure for general administration has developed in the St. Louis region. As the table shows, 11 municipalities count administration as their top expenditure, above public safety or any other municipal service. Twenty-six municipalities count administration as their second largest expenditure. This data presents an explanation for the high regional cost of the basic infrastructure of government, when it is fragmented to the degree it is in the St. Louis region.

Table 6
MUNICIPALITY	POPULATION	TOTAL EXPENDITURES	TOP EXPENDITURE	TOP EXENDITURE AMOUNT	TOP EXPENDITURE % OF TOTAL	2ND EXPENDITURE	2ND EXPENDITURE AMOUNT	2ND EXPENDITURE % OF TOTAL	3RD EXPENDITURE	3RD EXPENDITURE AMOUNT	3RD EXPENDITURE % OF TOTAL
Ballwin	30,404	$24,290,710	Capital Outlay	$6,467,740	26.63%	Police	$5,358,985	22.06%	Parks and Recreation	$4,270,741	17.58%
Bel-Nor	1,499	$935,464	Police	$435,379	46.54%	Administration	$113,156	12.10%	Highways and Streets	$82,355	8.80%
Bel-Ridge	2,737	$2,101,021	Police	$1,110,770	52.87%	Administration	$446,702	21.26%	Judicial and Legal	$239,496	11.40%
Bella Villa	729	$808,150	Police	$303,304	37.53%	Capital Outlay	$174,086	21.54%	Administration	$138,567	17.15%
Bellefontaine Neighbors	10,860	$8,436,187	Police	$2,363,172	28.01%	Habilitation	$1,714,146	20.32%	Administration	$1,325,612	15.71%
Bellerive Acres	188	$248,411	Administration	$90,175	36.30%	Police	$56,226	22.63%	Repairs & Maintenance	$25,928	10.44%
Berkeley	8,978	$9,985,736	Public Safety	$4,760,714	47.68%	Administration	$2,338,051	23.41%	Public Works	$1,292,480	12.94%
Beverly Hills	574	$826,904
Black Jack	6,929	$2,302,159	Police	$645,711	28.05%	Administration	$612,781	26.62%	Public Works	$385,617	16.75%
Breckenridge Hills	4,746	$2,636,059	Police	$1,162,057	44.08%	Administration	$674,388	25.58%	Capital Outlay	$309,398	11.74%
Brentwood	8,055	$25,889,049	Debt Service	$6,693,146	25.85%	Police	$3,580,545	13.83%	Administration	$3,386,220	13.08%
Bridgeton	11,550	$25,209,171	Police	$5,275,650	20.93%	Capital Outlay	$5,029,333	19.95%	Administration	$4,566,139	18.11%
Calverton Park	1,293	$777,328	Police	$542,344	69.77%	Administration	$139,116	17.90%	Municipal Court	$62,326	8.02%
Champ	13	$64,572	Police	$28,710	44.46%	Administration	$18,152	28.11%	Engineering	$12,710	19.68%
Charlack	1,363
Chesterfield	47,484	$42,104,611	Police	$10,258,001	24.36%	Capital Outlay	$8,460,558	20.09%	Public Works	$6,488,829	15.41%
Clarkson Valley	2,632	$832,688	Police	$390,323	46.88%	Solid Waste Management	$131,818	15.83%	Administration	$126,330	15.17%
Clayton	15,939	$32,107,835	Public Safety	$10,231,631	31.87%	Capital Outlay	$5,625,574	17.52%	Highways and streets	$4,850,023	15.11%
Cool Valley	1,196	$1,291,502	Police	$524,130	40.58%	Administration	$274,222	21.23%	Public Works	$184,002	14.25%
Country Club Hills	1,274	$1,362,934	Police	$727,959	53.41%	Administration	$355,053	26.05%	Highways and streets	$195,366	14.33%
Country Life Acres	74	$105,771	Fire	$41,931	39.64%	Solid Waste Management	$22,400	21.18%	Highways and streets	$18,970	17.93%
Crestwood	11,912	$11,399,445	Fire	$2,621,467	23.00%	Police	$2,569,711	22.54%	Capital Outlay	$2,312,143	20.28%
Creve Coeur	17,833	$21,319,410	Public Safety	$6,163,104	28.91%	Debt Service	$4,250,897	19.94%	Public Works	$3,955,462	18.55%
Crystal Lake Park	470	$237,979	Public Safety	$119,380	50.16%	Administration	$52,810	22.19%	Parks and Recreation	$33,849	14.22%
Dellwood	5,025	$3,001,188	Police	$1,054,544	35.14%	Administration	$756,947	25.22%	Recreation Center	$299,008	9.96%
Des Peres	8,373	$20,402,886	Public Safety	$5,855,058	28.70%	Capital Outlay	$4,634,250	22.71%	Parks and Recreation	$4,325,463	21.20%
Edmundson	834	$2,422,188	Police	$949,561	39.20%	Economic Development	$486,452	20.08%	Capital Outlay	$294,749	12.17%
Ellisville	9,133	$10,130,389	Administration	$2,809,216	27.73%	Police	$2,151,605	21.24%	Public Works	$1,623,368	16.02%
Eureka	10,189	$13,608,025	Capital Outlay	$4,505,836	33.11%	Police	$3,073,499	22.59%	Debt Service	$1,925,616	14.15%
Fenton	4,022	$12,150,369	Debt Service	$3,703,159	30.48%	Police	$2,392,642	19.69%	Parks and Recreation	$2,371,215	19.52%
Ferguson	21,203	$25,507,313	Public Safety	$8,561,370	33.56%	Capital Outlay	$8,068,753	31.63%	Debt Service	$2,943,911	11.54%
Flordell Hills	822	$546,538	Administration	$225,692	41.29%	Police	$125,400	22.94%	Fire	$83,389	15.26%
Florissant	52,158	$31,871,004	Police	$10,434,556	32.74%	Culture and Recreation	$5,908,821	18.54%	Administration	$4,859,389	15.25%
Frontenac	3,482	$8,175,295	Police	$2,574,554	31.49%	Fire	$2,191,523	26.81%	Capital Outlay	$1,144,963	14.01%
Glen Echo Park	160	$43,519	Trash Collection	$11,900	27.34%	Police	$10,183	23.40%	Village Mainenance	$6,460	14.84%
Glendale	5,925	$5,377,337	Fire	$1,444,144	26.86%	Capital Outlay	$1,313,126	24.42%	Police	$1,050,526	19.54%
Grantwood Village	863	$349,984	Highways and Streets	$158,585	45.31%	Police	$117,852	33.67%	Administration	$51,968	14.85%
Green Park	2,622	$2,190,494	Administration	$793,809	36.24%	Streets	$458,619	20.94%	Police	$221,792	10.13%
Greendale	651	$350,022	Administration	$120,278	34.36%	Public Works	$114,991	32.85%	Police and Courts	$80,974	23.13%
Hanley Hills	2,101	$843,308	Reconciliation Discrepancies	$365,969	43.40%	Police	$220,931	26.20%	Highways and streets	$98,024	11.62%
Hazelwood	25,703	$37,128,082	Police	$8,996,016	24.23%	Fire	$8,103,252	21.83%	Economic Development	$7,819,131	21.06%
Hillsdale	1,478	$997,232
Huntleigh	334	$211,998	Public Safety	$130,385	61.50%	Administration	$18,635	8.79%	Public Official Bonds	$1,188	0.56%
Jennings	14,712	$13,083,079	Police	$3,390,954	25.92%	Economic Development	$2,018,818	15.43%	Capital Outlay	$1,439,873	11.01%
Kinloch	298	$271,875	Administration	$143,445	52.76%	Police	$126,930	46.69%	Public Works	$1,500	0.55%
Kirkwood	27,540	$28,687,884	Police	$7,445,505	25.95%	Fire	$5,513,560	19.22%	Administration	$4,048,516	14.11%
Ladue	8,521	$18,015,545	Capital Outlay	$5,507,655	30.57%	Fire	$4,924,423	27.33%	Police	$4,717,170	26.18%
Lakeshire	1,432	$527,164	Police	$334,274	63.41%	Administration	$109,926	20.85%	Streets	$61,192	11.61%
Mackenzie	134	$43,674	Trash Collection	$11,832	27.09%	Administration	$10,678	24.45%	Police	$8,461	19.37%
Manchester	18,094	$18,909,536	Debt Service	$7,940,081	41.99%	Police	$3,120,680	16.50%	Public Works	$2,725,106	14.41%
Maplewood	8,046	$24,632,957	Community Development	$8,579,281	34.83%	Public Safety	$5,589,064	22.69%	Debt Service	$3,684,603	14.96%
Marlborough	2,179.	$420,441	Police	$331,944	78.95%	Solid Waste Management	$49,427	11.76%	Judicial and Legal	$17,677	4.20%
Maryland Heights	27,472	$36,871,977	Police	$10,189,054	27.63%	Capital Outlay	$7,454,744	20.22%	Public Works	$6,401,481	17.36%
Moline Acres	2,442	$3,469,722	Capital Outlay	$1,508,518	43.48%	Police	$810,893	23.37%	Administration	$430,769	12.42%
Normandy	5,008	$4,570,783	Public Safety	$1,948,933	42.64%	Administration	$601,024	13.15%	Public Works	$492,690	10.78%
Northwoods	4,227	$3,867,343	Administration	$899,812	23.27%	Police	$825,483	21.34%	Capital Outlay	$692,496	17.91%
Norwood Court	959	$208,657	Police	$101,336	48.57%	Administration	$49,571	23.76%	Highways & Streets	$22,720	10.89%
Oakland	1,381	$747,937	Engineering / Landscaping	$185,297	24.77%	Administration	$162,531	21.73%	Capital Improvements	$153,898	20.58%
Olivette	7,737	$9,259,204	Public Safety	$4,744,610	51.24%	Administration	$1,582,224	17.09%	Public Works	$1,337,862	14.45%
Overland	16,062	$11,077,605	Police	$4,196,805	37.89%	Capital Outlay	$1,768,438	15.96%	Administration	$1,586,811	14.32%
Pacific	7,002	$4,879,919	Police	$1,618,908	33.17%	Capilal Outlay	$1,088,046	22.30%	Administration	$717,218	14.70%
Pagedale	3,304	$2,540,416	Parks & Recreation	$475,127	18.70%	Police	$185,013	7.28%	TIF Match	$60,153	2.37%
Pasadena Hills	930	$537,446	Highways & Streets	$140,930	26.22%	Administration	$136,392	25.38%	Debt Service	$119,681	22.27%
Pasadena Park	470	$202,643	Police	$63,698	31.43%	Solid Waste Management	$52,439	25.88%	Administration	$43,936	21.68%
Pine Lawn	3,275	$4,181,269	Police	$1,696,874	40.58%	Administration	$743,090	17.77%	Courts	$503,442	12.04%
Richmond Heights	8,603	$26,538,877	Public Safety	$7,397,201	27.87%	Debt Service	$7,305,426	27.53%	Administration	$3,700,877	13.95%
Riverview	2,856	$1,171,984	Police	$633,381	54.04%	Administration	$197,756	16.87%	Capital Outlay	$151,062	12.89%
Rock Hill	4,635	$5,942,324	Capital Outlay	$1,410,542	23.74%	Debt Services	$1,255,416	21.13%	Police	$938,699	15.80%
Saint Ann	13,020	$12,853,188	Police	$4,385,195	34.12%	Administration	$2,094,470	16.30%	Parks & Recreation	$1,844,982	14.35%
Saint John	6,517	$5,777,261	Administration	$1,776,111	30.74%	Public Safety	$1,661,237	28.75%	Public Works	$1,114,374	19.29%
Saint Louis	319,294	$814,559,000	Police	$176,089,000	21.62%	Debt Service	$108,691,000	13.34%	Administration	$84,648,000	10.39%
Shrewsbury	6,254	$13,230,177	Public Works & Planning	$6,239,837	47.16%	Public Safety	$2,234,135	16.89%	Fire & Ambulance	$1,801,518	13.62%
STL County	998,954	$776,443,322	Public Safety	$167,273,388	21.54%	Transportation	$137,963,564	17.77%	Capital Outlay	$134,973,239	17.38%
Sunset Hills	8,496	$10,009,431	Public Safety	$2,395,666	23.93%	Capital Outlay	$1,700,617	16.99%	Public Works	$1,360,548	13.59%
Sycamore Hills	668	$181,589	Solid Waste Management	$77,836	42.86%	Police	$48,398	26.65%	Administration	$24,718	13.61%
Town & Country	10,815	$15,030,014	Capital Outlay	$4,411,088	29.35%	Police	$3,893,415	25.90%	Fire & Ambulance	$3,639,541	24.22%
Twin Oaks	392	$1,059,209	Administration	$323,320	30.52%	Parks	$155,641	14.69%	Streets	$140,903	13.30%
University City	35,371	$31,514,418	Public Safety	$11,803,019	37.45%	Administration	$6,959,565	22.08%	Capital Outlay	$5,343,276	16.96%
Uplands Park	445	$185,934	Administration	$99,777	53.66%	Public Safety	$76,007	40.88%	Capital Outlay	$8,034	4.32%
Valley Park	6,942	$6,367,526	Community Development	$1,968,685	30.92%	Debt Service	$1,443,830	22.67%	Police	$1,232,972	19.36%
Velda City	1,420	$1,017,815	Police	$489,000	48.04%	Public Works	$237,207	23.31%	Administation	$188,837	18.55%
Velda Village Hills	1,055
Vinita Park	1,880	$2,673,543	Police	$1,079,718	40.39%	Public Works	$435,409	16.29%	Administration	$432,823	16.19%
Vinita Terrace	277	$76,654	Police	$31,804	41.49%	Administration	$21,096	27.52%	Courts	$17,278	22.54%
Warson Woods	1,962	$1,506,507	Police	$576,904	38.29%	Administration	$338,157	22.45%	Fire	$234,035	15.53%
Webster Groves	22,995	$25,811,736	Public Safety	$7,829,420	30.33%	Capital Outlay	$7,108,747	27.54%	Parks & Recreation	$2,842,716	11.01%
Wellston	2,313
Westwood	278
Wilbur Park	471	$96,497	Rubbish Expense	$37,185	38.53%	Contract Service - Police	$16,246	16.84%	Trustee Fees	$14,060	14.57%
Wildwood	35,517	$14,333,246	Police	$3,017,030	21.05%	Public Works	$1,782,111	12.43%	Administration	$1,459,032	10.18%
Winchester	1,547	$661,236	Administrative	$334,889	50.65%	Public Safety	$184,082	27.84%	Streets & Sewer	$94,632	14.31%
Woodson Terrace	4,063	$3,883,687	Police	$1,537,526	39.59%	Administration	$961,593	24.76%	Public Works	$620,792	15.98%
TOTAL	1,318,610	$2,348,512,517	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
AVERAGE	14,329	$26,687,642	N/A	$6,701,440	36.85%	N/A	$4,719,008	21.78%	N/A	$3,948,348	14.67%
MEDIAN	3,393	$3,668,533	N/A	$1,427,343	34.60%	N/A	$783,920	21.78%	N/A	$498,066	14.51%

Table 6A
MUNICIPALITY	POPULATION	TOTAL EXPENDITURES	TOP EXPENDITURE	TOP EXENDITURE AMOUNT	2ND EXPENDITURE	2ND EXPENDITURE AMOUNT	3RD EXPENDITURE	3RD EXPENDITURE AMOUNT
Ballwin	30,404	$24,290,710	Capital Outlay	$6,467,740	Police	$5,358,985	Parks and Recreation	$4,270,741
Bel-Nor	1,499	$935,464	Police	$435,379	Administration	$113,156	Highways and Streets	$82,355
Bel-Ridge	2,737	$2,101,021	Police	$1,110,770	Administration	$446,702	Judicial and Legal	$239,496
Bella Villa	729	$808,150	Police	$303,304	Capital Outlay	$174,086	Administration	$138,567
Bellefontaine Neighbors	10,860	$8,436,187	Police	$2,363,172	Habilitation	$1,714,146	Administration	$1,325,612
Bellerive Acres	188	$248,411	Administration	$90,175	Police	$56,226	Repairs & Maintenance	$25,928
Berkeley	8,978	$9,985,736	Public Safety	$4,760,714	Administration	$2,338,051	Public Works	$1,292,480
Beverly Hills	574	$826,904
Black Jack	6,929	$2,302,159	Police	$645,711	Administration	$612,781	Public Works	$385,617
Breckenridge Hills	4,746	$2,636,059	Police	$1,162,057	Administration	$674,388	Capital Outlay	$309,398
Brentwood	8,055	$25,889,049	Debt Service	$6,693,146	Police	$3,580,545	Administration	$3,386,220
Bridgeton	11,550	$25,209,171	Police	$5,275,650	Capital Outlay	$5,029,333	Administration	$4,566,139
Calverton Park	1,293	$777,328	Police	$542,344	Administration	$139,116	Municipal Court	$62,326
Champ	13	$64,572	Police	$28,710	Administration	$18,152	Engineering	$12,710
Charlack	1,363
Chesterfield	47,484	$42,104,611	Police	$10,258,001	Capital Outlay	$8,460,558	Public Works	$6,488,829
Clarkson Valley	2,632	$832,688	Police	$390,323	Solid Waste Management	$131,818	Administration	$126,330
Clayton	15,939	$32,107,835	Public Safety	$10,231,631	Capital Outlay	$5,625,574	Highways and streets	$4,850,023
Cool Valley	1,196	$1,291,502	Police	$524,130	Administration	$274,222	Public Works	$184,002
Country Club Hills	1,274	$1,362,934	Police	$727,959	Administration	$355,053	Highways and streets	$195,366
Country Life Acres	74	$105,771	Fire	$41,931	Solid Waste Management	$22,400	Highways and streets	$18,970
Crestwood	11,912	$11,399,445	Fire	$2,621,467	Police	$2,569,711	Capital Outlay	$2,312,143
Creve Coeur	17,833	$21,319,410	Public Safety	$6,163,104	Debt Service	$4,250,897	Public Works	$3,955,462
Crystal Lake Park	470	$237,979	Public Safety	$119,380	Administration	$52,810	Parks and Recreation	$33,849
Dellwood	5,025	$3,001,188	Police	$1,054,544	Administration	$756,947	Recreation Center	$299,008
Des Peres	8,373	$20,402,886	Public Safety	$5,855,058	Capital Outlay	$4,634,250	Parks and Recreation	$4,325,463
Edmundson	834	$2,422,188	Police	$949,561	Economic Development	$486,452	Capital Outlay	$294,749
Ellisville	9,133	$10,130,389	Administration	$2,809,216	Police	$2,151,605	Public Works	$1,623,368
Eureka	10,189	$13,608,025	Capital Outlay	$4,505,836	Police	$3,073,499	Debt Service	$1,925,616
Fenton	4,022	$12,150,369	Debt Service	$3,703,159	Police	$2,392,642	Parks and Recreation	$2,371,215
Ferguson	21,203	$25,507,313	Public Safety	$8,561,370	Capital Outlay	$8,068,753	Debt Service	$2,943,911
Flordell Hills	822	$546,538	Administration	$225,692	Police	$125,400	Fire	$83,389
Florissant	52,158	$31,871,004	Police	$10,434,556	Culture and Recreation	$5,908,821	Administration	$4,859,389
Frontenac	3,482	$8,175,295	Police	$2,574,554	Fire	$2,191,523	Capital Outlay	$1,144,963
Glen Echo Park	160	$43,519	Trash Collection	$11,900	Police	$10,183	Village Mainenance	$6,460
Glendale	5,925	$5,377,337	Fire	$1,444,144	Capital Outlay	$1,313,126	Police	$1,050,526
Grantwood Village	863	$349,984	Highways and Streets	$158,585	Police	$117,852	Administration	$51,968
Green Park	2,622	$2,190,494	Administration	$793,809	Streets	$458,619	Police	$221,792
Greendale	651	$350,022	Administration	$120,278	Public Works	$114,991	Police and Courts	$80,974
Hanley Hills	2,101	$843,308	Reconciliation Discrepancies	$365,969	Police	$220,931	Highways and streets	$98,024
Hazelwood	25,703	$37,128,082	Police	$8,996,016	Fire	$8,103,252	Economic Development	$7,819,131
Hillsdale	1,478	$997,232
Huntleigh	334	$211,998	Public Safety	$130,385	Administration	$18,635	Public Official Bonds	$1,188
Jennings	14,712	$13,083,079	Police	$3,390,954	Economic Development	$2,018,818	Capital Outlay	$1,439,873
Kinloch	298	$271,875	Administration	$143,445	Police	$126,930	Public Works	$1,500
Kirkwood	27,540	$28,687,884	Police	$7,445,505	Fire	$5,513,560	Administration	$4,048,516
Ladue	8,521	$18,015,545	Capital Outlay	$5,507,655	Fire	$4,924,423	Police	$4,717,170
Lakeshire	1,432	$527,164	Police	$334,274	Administration	$109,926	Streets	$61,192
Mackenzie	134	$43,674	Trash Collection	$11,832	Administration	$10,678	Police	$8,461
Manchester	18,094	$18,909,536	Debt Service	$7,940,081	Police	$3,120,680	Public Works	$2,725,106
Maplewood	8,046	$24,632,957	Community Development	$8,579,281	Public Safety	$5,589,064	Debt Service	$3,684,603
Marlborough	2,179.	$420,441	Police	$331,944	Solid Waste Management	$49,427	Judicial and Legal	$17,677
Maryland Heights	27,472	$36,871,977	Police	$10,189,054	Capital Outlay	$7,454,744	Public Works	$6,401,481
Moline Acres	2,442	$3,469,722	Capital Outlay	$1,508,518	Police	$810,893	Administration	$430,769
Normandy	5,008	$4,570,783	Public Safety	$1,948,933	Administration	$601,024	Public Works	$492,690
Northwoods	4,227	$3,867,343	Administration	$899,812	Police	$825,483	Capital Outlay	$692,496
Norwood Court	959	$208,657	Police	$101,336	Administration	$49,571	Highways & Streets	$22,720
Oakland	1,381	$747,937	Engineering / Landscaping	$185,297	Administration	$162,531	Capital Improvements	$153,898
Olivette	7,737	$9,259,204	Public Safety	$4,744,610	Administration	$1,582,224	Public Works	$1,337,862
Overland	16,062	$11,077,605	Police	$4,196,805	Capital Outlay	$1,768,438	Administration	$1,586,811
Pacific	7,002	$4,879,919	Police	$1,618,908	Capilal Outlay	$1,088,046	Administration	$717,218
Pagedale	3,304	$2,540,416	Parks & Recreation	$475,127	Police	$185,013	TIF Match	$60,153
Pasadena Hills	930	$537,446	Highways & Streets	$140,930	Administration	$136,392	Debt Service	$119,681
Pasadena Park	470	$202,643	Police	$63,698	Solid Waste Management	$52,439	Administration	$43,936
Pine Lawn	3,275	$4,181,269	Police	$1,696,874	Administration	$743,090	Courts	$503,442
Richmond Heights	8,603	$26,538,877	Public Safety	$7,397,201	Debt Service	$7,305,426	Administration	$3,700,877
Riverview	2,856	$1,171,984	Police	$633,381	Administration	$197,756	Capital Outlay	$151,062
Rock Hill	4,635	$5,942,324	Capital Outlay	$1,410,542	Debt Services	$1,255,416	Police	$938,699
Saint Ann	13,020	$12,853,188	Police	$4,385,195	Administration	$2,094,470	Parks & Recreation	$1,844,982
Saint John	6,517	$5,777,261	Administration	$1,776,111	Public Safety	$1,661,237	Public Works	$1,114,374
Saint Louis	319,294	$814,559,000	Police	$176,089,000	Debt Service	$108,691,000	Administration	$84,648,000
Shrewsbury	6,254	$13,230,177	Public Works & Planning	$6,239,837	Public Safety	$2,234,135	Fire & Ambulance	$1,801,518
STL County	998,954	$776,443,322	Public Safety	$167,273,388	Transportation	$137,963,564	Capital Outlay	$134,973,239
Sunset Hills	8,496	$10,009,431	Public Safety	$2,395,666	Capital Outlay	$1,700,617	Public Works	$1,360,548
Sycamore Hills	668	$181,589	Solid Waste Management	$77,836	Police	$48,398	Administration	$24,718
Town & Country	10,815	$15,030,014	Capital Outlay	$4,411,088	Police	$3,893,415	Fire & Ambulance	$3,639,541
Twin Oaks	392	$1,059,209	Administration	$323,320	Parks	$155,641	Streets	$140,903
University City	35,371	$31,514,418	Public Safety	$11,803,019	Administration	$6,959,565	Capital Outlay	$5,343,276
Uplands Park	445	$185,934	Administration	$99,777	Public Safety	$76,007	Capital Outlay	$8,034
Valley Park	6,942	$6,367,526	Community Development	$1,968,685	Debt Service	$1,443,830	Police	$1,232,972
Velda City	1,420	$1,017,815	Police	$489,000	Public Works	$237,207	Administation	$188,837
Velda Village Hills	1,055
Vinita Park	1,880	$2,673,543	Police	$1,079,718	Public Works	$435,409	Administration	$432,823
Vinita Terrace	277	$76,654	Police	$31,804	Administration	$21,096	Courts	$17,278
Warson Woods	1,962	$1,506,507	Police	$576,904	Administration	$338,157	Fire	$234,035
Webster Groves	22,995	$25,811,736	Public Safety	$7,829,420	Capital Outlay	$7,108,747	Parks & Recreation	$2,842,716
Wellston	2,313
Westwood	278
Wilbur Park	471	$96,497	Rubbish Expense	$37,185	Contract Service - Police	$16,246	Trustee Fees	$14,060
Wildwood	35,517	$14,333,246	Police	$3,017,030	Public Works	$1,782,111	Administration	$1,459,032
Winchester	1,547	$661,236	Administrative	$334,889	Public Safety	$184,082	Streets & Sewer	$94,632
Woodson Terrace	4,063	$3,883,687	Police	$1,537,526	Administration	$961,593	Public Works	$620,792
TOTAL	1,318,610	$2,348,512,517	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
AVERAGE	14,329	$26,687,642	N/A	$6,701,440	N/A	$4,719,008	N/A	$3,948,348
MEDIAN	3,393	$3,668,533	N/A	$1,427,343	N/A	$783,920	N/A	$498,066

The above table reinforces the findings of Better Together’s previous reports on police and fire protection, which highlighted the significant costs associated with the fragmented structure of the 43 fire departments and 58 police departments that operate in the St. Louis region. Fifty-three municipalities listed fire protection, police, or public safety overall as their top expenditure, with an additional twenty-six municipalities having one of the three as their second-largest cost.

What the data also shows is that, as discussed in the previous general administration report, general administration is costly in the St. Louis region. As mentioned, a Louisville-Jefferson County resident pays $126.73 per capita in general administration costs, which is $86.43 less per capita than in the St. Louis region. While Louisville-Jefferson County has 83 municipalities, it also has a consolidated regional government ^[14] that handles much of the administrative functions that the St. Louis region divides among 92 local governments. As a result, an incredibly inefficient and costly structure for general administration has developed in the St. Louis region. As the table shows, 11 municipalities count administration as their top expenditure, above public safety or any other municipal service. Twenty-six municipalities count administration as their second largest expenditure. This data presents an explanation for the high regional cost of the basic infrastructure of government, when it is fragmented to the degree it is in the St. Louis region.

Table 7A
ADMINISTRATION AS TOP EXPENDITURE	TOP EXPENDITURE AMOUNT	TOP EXPENDITURE % OF TOTAL
Bellerive Acres	$90,175	36.30%
Ellisville	$2,809,216	27.73%
Flordell Hills	$225,692	41.29%
Green Park	$793,809	36.24%
Greendale	$120,278	34.36%
Kinloch	$143,445	52.76%
Northwoods	$899,812	23.27%
St. John	$1,776,111	30.74%
Twin Oaks	$323,320	30.52%
Uplands Park	$99,777	53.66%
Winchester	$334,889	50.65%

Table 7B
ADMINISTRATION AS 2ND EXPENDITURE	2ND EXPENDITURE AMOUNT	2ND EXPENDITURE % OF TOTAL
Bel-Nor	$113,156	12.10%
Bel-Ridge	$446,702	21.26%
Berkeley	$2,338,051	23.41%
Black Jack	$612,781	26.62%
Breckenridge Hills	$674,388	25.58%
Calverton Park	$139,116	17.90%
Champ	$18,152	28.11%
Cool Valley	$274,222	21.23%
Country Club Hills	$355,053	26.05%
Crystal Lake Park	$52,810	22.19%
Dellwood	$756,947	25.22%
Huntleigh	$18,635	8.79%
Lakeshire	$109,926	20.85%
Mackenzie	$10,678	24.45%
Normandy	$601,024	13.15%
Norwood Court	$49,571	23.76%
Oakland	$162,531	21.73%
Olivette	$1,582,224	17.09%
Pasadena Hills	$136,392	25.38%
Pine Lawn	$743,090	17.77%
Riverview	$197,756	16.87%
St. Ann	$2,094,470	16.30%
University City	$6,959,565	22.08%
Vinita Terrace	$21,096	27.52%
Warson Woods	$338,157	22.45%
Woodson Terrace	$961,593	24.76%

Louisville Metro provides an excellent model for cost savings by serving as a “central clearinghouse” for most of the administrative duties that are required in a large region but that are scattered across 92 entities in the St. Louis region. Further, Louisville-Jefferson County is similar to St. Louis in that it is home to a great many municipalities. However, those municipalities, along with Louisville Metro, have created an efficient, collaborative system that has resulted in population growth and reduced government spending.

Recommendations

The St. Louis region must have difficult conversations about the manner in which its governments function. A declining population base (more than 45,000 residents left between 2000 and 2010) as well as an antiquated regional governance structure that was cobbled together over two centuries are worthy of such discussions, as are our examples of best practices and reforms, including:

• Revising the sales tax system, so that the St. Louis region can focus on external economic competition rather than utilizing time, energy, and resources on intra-regional economic competition for sales tax revenue. This could be accomplished through a regional or statewide sales tax rate like that of Louisville and Indianapolis, amongst others.

• Addressing the regional overspend on administrative costs in St. Louis. Breaking the administrative functions of a region into 92 entities governed by over 52,000 pages of ordinances is not effective or efficient. Louisville Metro is a strong example of regional collaboration around governance, particularly administration. They have streamlined processes and just recently announced a 2015 budget surplus of $18.9 million. ^[15] Mayor Greg Fischer directly attributed $12.6 million of that savings to efficiencies in government. ^[16]

These possibilities are just two of the many that have the ability to create a stronger and more equitable region that understands that “free tree trimming and leaf pick-up” or the absence of a property tax actually just means someone else is picking up the tab. If St. Louis is to truly thrive, a mere shuffling of the deck chairs cannot be labeled economic development, and a passing of the buck cannot be deemed good governance. St. Louis must strive towards a structure that truly allows St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and the 90 municipalities therein to act and succeed as a region. It is the only path towards growth and success.

Municipal Governance & Management

This report is the third in a series of examining general administration in 92 local governments in the St. Louis region – St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and the 90 municipalities located in St. Louis County. Better Together’s previous two studies revealed that the St. Louis region spends over $281 million dollars each year on general administration, or $213.16 per capita. In comparison, Louisville-Jefferson County and its integrated Louisville Metro government spend $86.43 less per capita. If St. Louis were to benefit from similar efficiencies, the region would save over $113 million each year, savings that could go to actual services instead of overhead. Better Together’s second study on general administration found that one of the reasons behind the regional overspend on general administration and other municipal services is the fragmented structure of the St. Louis region. This structure incentivizes the pursuit of outside funding, such as sales tax revenue and court fines for internal municipal services. The result is a disconnect between the municipal services provided to citizens and the actual costs incurred as a community.

This third report examines municipal government and management by providing an overview of the current administrative and political structure for the 92 local governments, an examination of how those structures function, the cost of the current structure, and possible avenues for improvement. Fundamentally, this report examines the financial, economic, and opportunity cost of functioning as a region with 684 elected municipal officials, 571 aldermen ^[17] , 91 mayors, a county executive, and over 80 city halls for a population of roughly 1.3 million citizens.

Elected Officials

Municipal governments in the St. Louis region are governed by 684 elected municipal officials, a population of elected officials greater than the population of 16 existing municipalities in St. Louis County and larger than the populations of the five smallest municipalities combined. As with other aspects of local government, the size of governing bodies ranges broadly across the region, from the City of St. Louis’ 38 elected officials (including both county and city offices) and Wildwood’s 17 elected officials to a list of municipalities with only 5 elected officials, including Champ, which has a population of 13 people in total according to the last census. The following chart offers detailed numbers for each local government.

MUNICIPALITY	POPULATION	# OF ELECTED OFFICIALS	RESIDENTS PER ELECTED OFFICIAL
Ballwin	30,404	9	3,378.2
Bel-Nor	1,499	5	299.8
Bel-Ridge	2,737	9	304.1
Bella Villa	729	7	104.1
Bellefontaine Neighbors	10,860	9	1,206.7
Bellerive Acres	188	5	37.6
Berkeley	8,978	7	1,282.6
Beverly Hills	574	5	114.8
Black Jack	6,929	10	692.9
Breckenridge Hills	4,746	9	527.3
Brentwood	8,055	9	895.0
Bridgeton	11,550	10	1,155.0
Calverton Park	1,293	5	258.6
Champ	13	5	2.6
Charlack	1,363	5	272.6
Chesterfield	47,484	9	5,276.0
Clarkson Valley	2,632	7	376.0
Clayton	15,939	7	2,277.0
Cool Valley	1,196	5	239.2
Country Club Hills	1,274	5	254.8
Country Life Acres	74	5	14.8
Crestwood	11,912	9	1,323.6
Creve Coeur	17,833	9	1,981.4
Crystal Lake Park	470	5	94.0
Dellwood	5,025	9	558.3
Des Peres	8,373	8	1,046.6
Edmundson	834	5	166.8
Ellisville	9,133	7	1,304.7
Eureka	10,189	7	1,455.6
Fenton	4,022	9	446.9
Ferguson	21,203	7	3,029.0
Flordell Hills	822	5	164.4
Florissant	52,158	10	5,215.8
Frontenac	3,482	7	497.4
Glen Echo Park	160	5	32.0
Glendale	5,925	7	846.4
Grantwood Village	863	5	172.6
Green Park	2,622	7	374.6
Greendale	651	5	130.2
Hanley Hills	2,101	9	233.4
Hazelwood	25,703	9	2,855.9
Hillsdale	1,478	5	295.6
Huntleigh	334	6	55.7
Jennings	14,712	9	1,634.7
Kinloch	298	5	59.6
Kirkwood	27,540	7	3,934.3
Ladue	8,521	7	1,217.3
Lakeshire	1,432	7	204.6
Mackenzie	134	5	26.8
Manchester	18,094	7	2,584.9
Maplewood	8,046	7	1,149.4
Marlborough	2,179.	5	435.8
Maryland Heights	27,472	9	3,052.4
Moline Acres	2,442	5	488.4
Normandy	5,008	9	556.4
Northwoods	4,227	9	469.7
Norwood Court	959	5	191.8
Oakland	1,381	5	276.2
Olivette	7,737	5	1,547.4
Overland	16,062	9	1,784.7
Pacific	7,002	10	700.2
Pagedale	3,304	7	472.0
Pasadena Hills	930	5	186.0
Pasadena Park	470	5	94.0
Pine Lawn	3,275	9	363.9
Richmond Heights	8,603	9	955.9
Riverview	2,856	5	571.2
Rock Hill	4,635	7	662.1
Saint Ann	13,020	10	1,302.0
Saint John	6,517	7	931.0
Saint Louis City	319,294	38	8,402.5
Shrewsbury	6,254	7	893.4
STL County	998,954	10	99,895.4
Sunset Hills	8,496	10	849.6
Sycamore Hills	668	5	133.6
Town & Country	10,815	9	1,201.7
Twin Oaks	392	5	78.4
University City	35,371	7	5,053.0
Uplands Park	445	5	89.0
Valley Park	6,942	9	771.3
Velda City	1,420	5	284.0
Velda Village Hills	1,055	5	211.0
Vinita Park	1,880	7	268.6
Vinita Terrace	277	5	55.4
Warson Woods	1,962	9	218.0
Webster Groves	22,995	7	3,285.0
Wellston	2,313	7	330.4
Westwood	278	5	55.6
Wilbur Park	471	5	94.2
Wildwood	35,517	17	2,089.2
Winchester	1,547	5	309.4
Woodson Terrace	4,063	11	369.4
TOTAL	1,318,610	684	N/A
AVERAGE	14,329	7.4	2087.4
MEDIAN	3,393	7.0	470.8

Aldermen

The St. Louis region is home to 571 aldermen ^[18] who represent constituencies ranging in size from 4 residents to just over 100,000 residents. One hundred and ninety-six aldermen in the region represent less than 500 constituents, while over half of the aldermen in the region, 296, represent a population of less than 1,000 residents.

Similarly, compensation ranges widely across municipalities with aldermen serving with no compensation in the municipalities of Champ, Westwood, Huntleigh, Frontenac, Ladue and Westwood, to aldermen earning a salary of $37,000 in St. Louis City.

Regardless of constituency size and compensation, each of the 571 aldermen in the St. Louis region has significant power over how the region collectively operates. Aldermen in charter cities, third- and fourth-class cities, and villages are each granted authority to pass ordinances relating to a broad range of categories including public health, the licensing and regulation of merchants, and the power of taxation. Additionally, each has the authority to regulate the public safety and the municipal court of its jurisdiction, including the hiring of personnel.

MUNICIPALITY	POPULATION	# OF ALDERMEN	RESIDENTS PER ALDERMAN	ANNUAL PAY PER ALDERMAN	TOTAL ALDERMAN PAY
Ballwin	30,404	8	3,800.5	$4,200	$33,600
Bel-Nor	1,499	4	374.8	$1,200	$4,800
Bel-Ridge	2,737	8	342.1	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
Bella Villa	729	6	121.5	$3,600	$21,600
Bellefontaine Neighbors	10,860	8	1,357.5	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
Bellerive Acres	188	4	47.0	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
Berkeley	8,978	6	1,496.3	$2,100	$12,600
Beverly Hills	574	4	143.5	$3,600	$14,400
Black Jack	6,929	8	866.1	$7,200	$57,600
Breckenridge Hills	4,746	8	593.3	According to municipality, records do not exist	According to municipality, records do not exist
Brentwood	8,055	8	1,006.9	$7,200	$57,600
Bridgeton	11,550	8	1,443.8	$600	$4,800
Calverton Park	1,293	4	323.3	$600	$2,400
Champ	13	4	3.3	$0	$0
Charlack	1,363	4	340.8	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
Chesterfield	47,484	8	5,935.5	$6,000	$48,000
Clarkson Valley	2,632	6	438.7	$1,200	$7,200
Clayton	15,939	6	2,656.5	$2,400	$14,400
Cool Valley	1,196	4	299.0	$2,400	$9,600
Country Club Hills	1,274	4	318.5	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
Country Life Acres	74	4	18.5	$1	$4
Crestwood	11,912	8	1,489.0	$4,200	$33,600
Creve Coeur	17,833	8	2,229.1	$9,600	$76,800
Crystal Lake Park	470	4	117.5	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
Dellwood	5,025	8	628.1	$4,200	$33,600
Des Peres	8,373	6	1,395.5	$6,900	$41,400
Edmundson	834	4	208.5	$4,800	$19,200
Ellisville	9,133	6	1,522.2	$6,500	$37,500
Eureka	10,189	6	1,698.2	$4,800	$28,800
Fenton	4,022	8	502.8	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
Ferguson	21,203	6	3,533.8	$3,000	$18,000
Flordell Hills	822	4	205.5	$3,600	$14,400
Florissant	52,158	9	5,795.3	$11,568	$104,112
Frontenac	3,482	6	580.3	$0	$0
Glen Echo Park	160	4	40.0	$1,200	$4,800
Glendale	5,925	6	987.5	$1,800	$16,200
Grantwood Village	863	4	215.8	$4,800	$19,200
Green Park	2,622	6	437.0	$3,000	$18,600
Greendale	651	4	162.8	$1,200	$4,800
Hanley Hills	2,101	8	262.6
Hazelwood	25,703	8	3,212.9	$2,400	$19,200
Hillsdale	1,478	4	369.5	$1,200	$4,800
Huntleigh	334	4	83.5	$0	$0
Jennings	14,712	8	1,839.0	$7,200	$57,600
Kinloch	298	4	74.5
Kirkwood	27,540	6	4,590.0	$2,400	$14,400
Ladue	8,521	6	1,420.2	$0	$0
Lakeshire	1,432	6	238.7	$6,552	$39,312
Mackenzie	134	4	33.5	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
Manchester	18,094	6	3,015.7	$4,500	$27,000
Maplewood	8,046	6	1,341.0	$3,500	$17,700
Marlborough	2,179.	4	544.8	$3,000	$12,000
Maryland Heights	27,472	8	3,434.0	$7,200	$57,600
Moline Acres	2,442	4	610.5	$6,000	$24,000
Normandy	5,008	8	626.0	$3,000	$24,000
Northwoods	4,227	8	528.4	$7,200	$57,600
Norwood Court	959	4	239.8	$9,900	$39,600
Oakland	1,381	4	345.3	$2,200	$8,880
Olivette	7,737	4	1,934.3	$1,200	$4,800
Overland	16,062	8	2,007.8	$6,000	$48,000
Pacific	7,002	6	1,167.0	$4,575	$27,450
Pagedale	3,304	6	550.7	$8,400	$50,400
Pasadena Hills	930	4	232.5	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
Pasadena Park	470	4	117.5	$3,000	$12,000
Pine Lawn	3,275	8	409.4	$6,000	$48,000
Richmond Heights	8,603	8	1,075.4	$1,200	$9,600
Riverview	2,856	4	714.0	$1,200	$4,800
Rock Hill	4,635	6	772.5	$3,300	$19,800
Saint Ann	13,020	8	1,627.5	$9,000	$72,000
Saint John	6,517	6	1,086.2	$1,800	$10,800
Saint Louis City	319,294	29	11,010.1	$37,000	$1,116,000
Shrewsbury	6,254	6	1,042.3	$4,500	$27,000
STL County	998,954	7	142,707.7	$20,000	$145,000
Sunset Hills	8,496	8	1,062.0	$4,800	$38,400
Sycamore Hills	668	4	167.0	$1,620	$6,480
Town & Country	10,815	8	1,351.9	$5,040	$40,320
Twin Oaks	392	4	98.0	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
University City	35,371	6	5,895.2	$2,400	$14,400
Uplands Park	445	4	111.3	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
Valley Park	6,942	8	867.8	$4,800	$38,400
Velda City	1,420	4	355.0	$3,600	$14,400
Velda Village Hills	1,055	4	263.8	$5,100	$21,000
Vinita Park	1,880	6	313.3	$8,040	$48,240
Vinita Terrace	277	4	69.3	$481	$1,924
Warson Woods	1,962	8	245.3	$1,200	$9,600
Webster Groves	22,995	6	3,832.5	$600	$3,600
Wellston	2,313	6	385.5	$7,500	$45,000
Westwood	278	4	69.5	$0	$0
Wilbur Park	471	4	117.8	$2,600	$10,400
Wildwood	35,517	16	2,219.8	$2,500	$40,000
Winchester	1,547	4	386.8	$3,720	$14,880
Woodson Terrace	4,063	8	507.9	$6,000	$48,000
TOTAL	1,318,610	571	N/A	N/A	$3,154,002
AVERAGE	14,329	6.2	2,731.1	$4,447	$40,436
MEDIAN	3,393	6.0	547.7	$3,600	$19,200

Mayors

As with aldermen, the compensation and responsibilities of mayors ^[19] vary significantly, but with an important common factor: They all play a significant role in the passage of local ordinances and the enforcement of those ordinances. A significant portion of the region’s mayors serve in part-time capacities with a city administrator and staff handling much of the day-to-day operations, an important aspect of local government that will also be examined in a subsequent portion of this report.

Compensation, again, varies significantly across municipalities. Ranging from the Mayor of Florissant’s salary of $135,7465 ^[20] to municipalities that do not compensate their mayor - Champ, Westwood, Huntleigh, Frontenac, Ladue and Westwood.

MUNICIPALITY	POPULATION	MAYOR/CHAIRMAN	MAYOR/CHAIRMAN ANNUAL PAY
Ballwin	30,404	Tim Pogue	$8,400
Bel-Nor	1,499	Kevin Buchek	$1,800
Bel-Ridge	2,737	Rachel White	Information Not Provided
Bella Villa	729	Joanne Yates	$3,000
Bellefontaine Neighbors	10,860	Robert Doerr	Information Not Provided
Bellerive Acres	188	Ann Knapp	Information Not Provided
Berkeley	8,978	Ted Hoskins	$2,100
Beverly Hills	574	Myrtle Spann	$4,800
Black Jack	6,929	Norman C. McCourt	$24,000
Breckenridge Hills	4,746	Jack Shrewsbury	According to municipality, record does not exist
Brentwood	8,055	Chris Thornton	$14,400
Bridgeton	11,550	Terry Briggs	$15,000
Calverton Park	1,293	James A. Paunovich	$2,400
Champ	13	Angela Coke	$0
Charlack	1,363	Frank Mattingly	Information Not Provided
Chesterfield	47,484	Bob Nation	$12,000
Clarkson Valley	2,632	Scott Douglass	$5,400
Clayton	15,939	Harold Sanger	$6,000
Cool Valley	1,196	Viola Murphy	$3,600
Country Club Hills	1,274	Bender McKinney, Jr.	Information Not Provided
Country Life Acres	74	Cody Wilson	$1
Crestwood	11,912	Gregg Roby	$8,400
Creve Coeur	17,833	Barry Glantz	$14,400
Crystal Lake Park	470	Phillip Bryant	Information Not Provided
Dellwood	5,025	Reggie Jones	$8,400
Des Peres	8,373	Rick Lahr	$13,200
Edmundson	834	John Gwaltney	$9,600
Ellisville	9,133	Adam Paul	$9,200
Eureka	10,189	Kevin M. Coffey	$8,400
Fenton	4,022	Mike Polizzi	Information Not Provided
Ferguson	21,203	James Knowles, III	$4,200
Flordell Hills	822	Joseph Noeth	$4,800
Florissant	52,158	Thomas Schneider	$135,746
Frontenac	3,482	Keith Krieg	$0
Glen Echo Park	160	Victoria Valle	$1,200
Glendale	5,925	Richard Magee	$3,600
Grantwood Village	863	Kevin Kelso	$5,400
Green Park	2,622	Bob Reinagel	$5,400
Greendale	651	William Hunot	$3,600
Hanley Hills	2,101	LaManda Goodrich
Hazelwood	25,703	Matthew G. Robinson	$3,000
Hillsdale	1,478	Dorothy Moore	$1,800
Huntleigh	334	F. Gilbert Bickel, III	$0
Jennings	14,712	Yolonda Fountain Henderson	$25,000
Kinloch	298	Evelyn Carter
Kirkwood	27,540	Arthur McDonnell	$3,600
Ladue	8,521	Nancy Spewak	$0
Lakeshire	1,432	Calvin Whitaker	$2,616
Mackenzie	134	Patricia Berry	Information Not Provided
Manchester	18,094	Dave L. Wilson	$10,800
Maplewood	8,046	James White	$4,800
Marlborough	2,179.	Roy "Skip" Bornmueller	$3,000
Maryland Heights	27,472	Mike Moeller	$14,400
Moline Acres	2,442	Michele DeShay	$7,200
Normandy	5,008	Patrick Green	$10,800
Northwoods	4,227	Everett Thomas	$9,000
Norwood Court	959	Anna Hollins	$9,900
Oakland	1,381	Paul E. Marti	$6,000
Olivette	7,737	Ruth Springer	$1,200
Overland	16,062	Mike Schneider	$12,000
Pacific	7,002	Jeff Palmore	$7,990
Pagedale	3,304	Mary Louise Carter	$18,000
Pasadena Hills	930	Geno Salvati	Information Not Provided
Pasadena Park	470	Timothy J. Britt	$3,000
Pine Lawn	3,275	Olimes Underwood	$60,000
Richmond Heights	8,603	James Beck	$1,000
Riverview	2,856	Steve Paro	$1,200
Rock Hill	4,635	Edward Mahan	$6,600
Saint Ann	13,020	Michael Corcoran	$20,700
Saint John	6,517	Tom Halaska	$1,800
Saint Louis	319,294	Francis G. Slay	$131,820
Shrewsbury	6,254	Felicity Buckley	$9,000
STL County	998,954	Steve Stenger	$140,000
Sunset Hills	8,496	Mark Furrer	$6,000
Sycamore Hills	668	Lisa Williford	$2,400
Town & Country	10,815	Jon Dalton	$6,000
Twin Oaks	392	Ray Slama	Information Not Provided
University City	35,371	Shelley Welsch	$4,800
Uplands Park	445	Michael Spurling	$2,700
Valley Park	6,942	Michael Pennise	$9,600
Velda City	1,420	Robert Hensley	$9,000
Velda Village Hills	1,055	Earlene Luster	$6,300
Vinita Park	1,880	James McGee	$40,680
Vinita Terrace	277	Elaine Greiner	$4,849
Warson Woods	1,962	Laurance M. Howe	$3,000
Webster Groves	22,995	Gerry Welch	$750
Wellston	2,313	Nathaniel Griffin	$20,000
Westwood	278	Frederick J. Berger	$0
Wilbur Park	471	Joseph E. Wilhite	$3,000
Wildwood	35,517	Timothy Woerther	$5,000
Winchester	1,547	Gail M. Winham	$5,040
Woodson Terrace	4,063	Lawrence P. "Butch" Besmer	$24,456
TOTAL	1,318,610	N/A	$1,018,248
AVERAGE	14,329	N/A	$12,889
MEDIAN	3,393	N/A	$5,400

It is important to examine the governance structure at a regional level, because each of these elected officials is responsible for a portion of the zoning, policing, regulation, and taxation of a piece of the region that all St. Louisans call home and in which virtually every resident travels through or visits several municipalities daily. A St. Louisan travelling from mid-County to Lambert International Airport is subject to the policing of over a dozen police departments and a corresponding number of courts, each enforcing ordinances established by a municipality’s aldermen and mayor. As elected municipal officials are largely acting in part-time positions, it is also important to understand the system of professionals that actually manage the day-to-day operations of this system.

Administrative Officials

The National League of Cities outlines five forms of municipal government. ^[21] In St. Louis County, there are two primary forms of municipal government: the mayor-council form and the council-manager form. Within these two main structures of municipal governance there are various iterations that can include the use of city administrators or clerks, and distinctions between weak-mayor and strong-mayor forms of government. ^[22] The differences among the various versions of local government are largely related to the balance of power between a city’s mayor and council and the balance of the mayor’s authority in administrative versus legislative responsibilities.

In Missouri, the key distinction between the council-manager and mayor-council form of governance is which class cities are able to utilize which forms governance. ^[23] As outlined in the second report on general administration, municipal governments in St. Louis City and St. Louis County fall under four categories established under state statute: charter cities, third-class cities, fourth-class cities, and villages. Part of what distinguishes these classifications of municipalities is the structure of government they are able to adopt.

By statute, third and fourth-class cities are able to adopt the mayor-council form of government, while only third-class cities are able to adopt the council-manager form. Charter cities can adopt either structure through their city charter, and villages are only allowed to have a chairman trustee form of government – a subset of the mayor-council form.

The council-manager structure in third-class cities can only be adopted after a petition and popular election by the people in a city. ^[24] Once adopted, this structure typically utilizes a professionally trained city manager who is appointed by and reports to the city council. Under a council-manager form of governance, the authority of the city manager is derived from state statute ^[25] and has powers specified in state law or city charter if utilized by a charter city. The council-manager form concentrates the policy-making responsibilities of a government within the city council and allows a manager to oversee and carry out most administrative duties. The mayor a city in a council-manager form is often elected from within the members of the city council and serves as a ceremonial head of the city. He or she participates primarily as the head of city council, voting in instances of a tie. There are currently 10 municipalities in St. Louis County utilizing a council-manager form of governance.

The mayor-council form of governance – available to third- and fourth-class cities – has a mayor and city council to perform the legislative and executive functions of the city. This structure allows for the creation of a city administrator or clerk position to assist with administrative functions as well. The distinction is in how that position is created and from where it derives its authority. While the council-manager form requires adoption through petition and a vote of the people, the mayor-council form may create a similar position through ordinances in the municipality. Rather than the duties and authority coming directly from the state, the city administrator’s powers are defined and amendable based upon the needs and desires of an individual city. Under the mayor-council form, the city administrator often reports to the mayor of the city rather than directly to the city council. Most major decisions are still subject to the approval of the city council. Currently, 58 municipalities in St. Louis County and St. Louis City utilize the mayor-council form of governance.

One variation in the mayor-council form of government is the distinction of the weak-mayor versus strong-mayor structure. ^[26] Often the difference in the two is the mayor’s appointive power of key municipal officials such as a city’s treasurer or collector. In a strong-mayor system, the mayor is able to appoint and remove these officials with approval of the city council. In contrast, under a weak-mayor system, these positions are often elected or appointed by the city council directly.

Last is the chairman-trustee form of governance, utilized by villages. The chairman-trustee form of government is a subset of the mayor-council form. Under this structure, a board of trustees is elected by popular vote and then selects a chairperson from within the board to serve as the primary executive. ^[27] Most of a village’s business is conducted through the board of trustees. Similar to the mayor-council form, through the passage of ordinances, a village may choose to hire a full- or part-time administrator or clerk to assist with the operation of administrative duties within the village. There are currently 22 villages in St. Louis County operating under this form of government.

In total, the St. Louis region pays $5,782,093 in total salaries to the top city manager, administrator, or clerk in the 90 municipalities of St. Louis County.

MUNICIPALITY	POPULATION	POSITION	CITY MANAGER/ ADMINISTRATOR/ CLERK NAME	CITY MANAGER/ ADMINISTRATOR/ CLERK ANNUAL PAY
Ballwin	30,404	City Administrator	Eric Hanson	$145,000
Bel-Nor	1,499	City Clerk	Diana Krosnicki	$34,000
Bel-Ridge	2,737	City Clerk	Dionne Davidson	$36,400
Bella Villa	729	City Clerk	Laura Van Zale	$31,988
Bellefontaine Neighbors	10,860	City Clerk	Denise Donovan	$41,633
Bellerive Acres	188	City Administrator	Matt Lauer	$9,000
Berkeley	8,978	City Manager	Abdul-Kaba Abdullah	$80,000
Beverly Hills	574	City Administrator	(Vacant)	Information Not Provided
Black Jack	6,929	City Clerk	Karen Robinson	$44,387
Breckenridge Hills	4,746	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
Brentwood	8,055	City Administrator	Bola Akande	$120,622
Bridgeton	11,550	City Administrator	Donald Hood	$122,846
Calverton Park	1,293	City Clerk	Jeanne Blanton	$39,374
Champ	13	Village Clerk	J. Scott Fowler	$0
Charlack	1,363	City Clerk	Susan Gallagher	$31,200
Chesterfield	47,484	City Administrator	Michael Herring	$160,332
Clarkson Valley	2,632	City Clerk	Michelle McMahon	$36,582
Clayton	15,939	City Manager	Craig Owens	$161,244
Cool Valley	1,196	City Clerk	Deborah Jones	$43,514
Country Club Hills	1,274	City Clerk	Rowena Hollins	$18,462
Country Life Acres	74	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
Crestwood	11,912	City Administrator	Kristoffer Simpson	$93,500
Creve Coeur	17,833	City Administrator	Mark Perkins	$158,616
Crystal Lake Park	470	City Clerk	Angela McCormick	$23,400
Dellwood	5,025	City Administrator	Frank Myers	$55,000
Des Peres	8,373	City Administrator	Douglas Harms	$142,192
Edmundson	834	City Clerk	Ronda Phelps	$66,414
Ellisville	9,133	City Manager	William Schwer	$136,500
Eureka	10,189	City Administrator	Craig Sabo	$108,972
Fenton	4,022	City Clerk	Diane Monteleone	$77,600
Ferguson	21,203	City Manager	De’Carlon Seewood	$110,000
Flordell Hills	822	City Clerk	Maureen Woodson	$35,360
Florissant	52,158	City Clerk	Karen Goodwin	$70,450
Frontenac	3,482	City Administrator	Bob Shelton	$142,099
Glen Echo Park	160	Village Clerk	Sharon Warren	Information Not Provided
Glendale	5,925	City Administrator	Jaysen Christensen	$82,424
Grantwood Village	863	Village Clerk	Sue Ehrhardt	$4,800
Green Park	2,622	City Administrator	Zella Pope	$54,997
Greendale	651	City Administrator	Eye-Liza J. Connor	$41,600
Hanley Hills	2,101	Village Clerk	Shadress Burks	$34,320
Hazelwood	25,703	City Manager	Matt Zimmerman	$124,444
Hillsdale	1,478	City Manager	Gloria Stewart	$20,000
Huntleigh	334	City Clerk	Peter Von Gontard	$0
Jennings	14,712	City Clerk	Cheryl Balke	$61,191
Kinloch	298	City Manager	Justine Blue	$55,000
Kirkwood	27,540	Chief Administrative Officer	Russell Hawes	$161,200
Ladue	8,521	City Clerk	Laura Rider	$104,000
Lakeshire	1,432	City Clerk	Jill Feltmann	$5,182
Mackenzie	134	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
Manchester	18,094	City Administrator	Andrew Hixson	$99,323
Maplewood	8,046	City Manager	Martin Corcoran	$162,702
Marlborough	2,179	Village Clerk	Joy Porter Drennan	$45,942
Maryland Heights	27,472	City Administrator	Mark Levin	$160,000
Moline Acres	2,442	City Clerk	Annette Pendilton	$52,000
Normandy	5,008	City Administrator	Sharon Warren	$64,000
Northwoods	4,227	City Administrator	Lillian Eunice	$71,469
Norwood Court	959	Village Clerk	Dennis Callahan	$9,600
Oakland	1,381	City Administrator	Deborah LeMoine	$65,200
Olivette	7,737	City Manager	Barbara Sondag	$97,375
Overland	16,062	City Administrator	Jason McConachie	$102,622
Pacific	7,002	City Administrator	Information Not Provided	$76,000
Pagedale	3,304	City Clerk	Fran Stevens	Information Not Provided
Pasadena Hills	930	City Administrator	Leslie Broadnax	$38,500
Pasadena Park	470	Village Clerk	Peggy Deimeke	$14,400
Pine Lawn	3,275	City Clerk	Victoria Stevenson	$34,944
Richmond Heights	8,603	City Manager	Amy Hamilton	$129,051
Riverview	2,856	Village Clerk	Jamie Powell	$27,000
Rock Hill	4,635	City Administrator	Jennifer Yackley	$82,000
Saint Ann	13,020	City Administrator	Matt Conley	$90,686
Saint John	6,517	City Manager	John Morris	$110,850
Saint Louis	319,294
Shrewsbury	6,254	Director of Administration	Jonathan D. Greever	$92,507
STL County	998,954
Sunset Hills	8,496	City Administrator	Robert Heacock	$59,301
Sycamore Hills	668	Village Clerk	Joy V. Porter Drennan	$2,550
Town & Country	10,815	City Administrator	Gary Hoelzer	$140,036
Twin Oaks	392	Village Clerk	Kathy Runge	Information Not Provided
University City	35,371	City Manager	Lehman Walker	$135,252
Uplands Park	445	Village Clerk	Stephanie Freeny	$32,000
Valley Park	6,942	City Clerk	Marguerite Wilburn	$57,097
Velda City	1,420	City Clerk	Kakneka Thomas	$33,280
Velda Village Hills	1,055	City Clerk	Jacqueline Patton	$33,280
Vinita Park	1,880	City Clerk	Brent Bury	$45,323
Vinita Terrace	277	Village Clerk	Elise Gannon	$5,400
Warson Woods	1,962	City Clerk	Kathy Mahany	$55,755
Webster Groves	22,995	City Manager	Steven Wylie	$166,306
Wellston	2,313	City Administrator	Janice Trigg	$10,000
Westwood	278	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wilbur Park	471	N/A	N/A	N/A
Wildwood	35,517	City Administrator	Ryan Thomas	$136,500
Winchester	1,547	City Administrator	Barbara Beckett	$63,000
Woodson Terrace	4,063	City Clerk	Scott Schaefer	$55,000
TOTAL	1,318,610	N/A	N/A	$5,782,093
AVERAGE	14,329	N/A	N/A	$71,384
MEDIAN	3,393	N/A	N/A	$59,301

City Attorneys

City attorneys play perhaps the most significant and influential role in municipal governance throughout the St. Louis region. A city attorney counsels elected and civilian municipal officials on all legal matters pertaining to municipal functions. A city attorney is often appointed by the mayor or city council, and reports directly to the mayor and city council. A city attorney typically attends all city council meetings, planning meetings, and any meetings held by commissions and sub-committees.

As with other important roles in municipal governance outside of St. Louis City and St. Louis County, the role of city attorney is a part-time responsibility with the city attorney being appointed through some form of nomination and approval by the municipality’s alderman/councilman with minor variances occurring across municipalities. For example, in Warson Woods, the city attorney is appointed by the mayor with the consent and approval of the majority of members of the board of aldermen ^[28] Similarly, Kirkwood’s ordinances provide that the mayor places in nomination for consideration of the city council nominees for the position of city attorney, but also offers an alternative means by which the council may provide for such nominations to be made by members of the city council itself. ^[29]

With few exceptions, the compensation for a city attorney's legal services is based on an agreed upon monthly retainer fee and in some cases, an additional hourly fee. The following table provides more detailed information on the city attorney for each municipality.

MUNICIPALITY	CITY ATTORNEY	LAW FIRM	ANNUAL RETAINER PAY	ADDITIONAL HOURLY RATE	OTHER MUNICIPAL ROLES
Ballwin	Robert E. Jones	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$31,200	$175.00	City Attorney (Ballwin), City Attorney (Sunset Hills), Prosecuting Attorney (Sunset Hills)
Bel-Nor	Kevin O'Keefe	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$4,800	$160.00	City Attorney (Bellefontaine Neighbors), City Attorney (Clayton), City Attorney (Cool Valley), City Attorney (Des Peres), City Attorney (Edmundson), City Attorney (Ferguson), City Attorney (Hazelwood)
Bel-Ridge	Kenneth Heinz	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.		$295.00	City Attorney (Country Club Hills), City Attorney (Richmond Heights)
Bella Villa	Jessica Liss	Jackson Lewis L.C	--	$175.00	None Found
Bellefontaine Neighbors	Kevin O'Keefe	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$8,400	$250.00	City Attorney (Bel-Nor), City Attorney (Clayton), City Attorney (Cool Valley), City Attorney (Des Peres), City Attorney (Edmundson), City Attorney (Ferguson), City Attorney (Hazelwood)
Bellerive Acres	Stephanie Karr	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.		$145.00	City Attorney (Normandy), City Attorney (Calverton Park), City Attorney (Ferguson), City Attorney (Edmundson), Prosecuting Attorney (Ferguson), Prosecuting Attorney (Bel-Nor), Prosecuting Attorney (Hazelwood), Special Counsel (Brentwood)
Berkeley	Donnell Smith	Smith & Associates LLC	$70,000	--	City Attorney (Beverly Hills), City Attorney (Moline Acres), City Attorney (Pine Lawn), City Attorney (Velda Village Hills), Prosecuting Attorney (Berkeley), Municipal Judge (Greendale)
Beverly Hills	Donnell Smith	Smith & Associates LLC	$15,600	$145.00	City Attorney (Berkeley), City Attorney (Moline Acres), City Attorney (Pine Lawn), City Attorney (Velda Village Hills), Prosecuting Attorney (Berkeley), Municipal Judge (Greendale)
Black Jack	Sheldon Stock	Greensfelder, Hempker, & Gale P.C.	--	$225.00	None Found
Breckenridge Hills	Paul Martin	Paul Martin P.C.	--	$175.00	City Attorney (Rock Hill), City Attorney (Crystal Lake Park), City Attorney (Olivette)
Brentwood		Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$10,800	$250.00
Bridgeton	David Linenbroker	Husch Blackwell	--	$250.00	None Found
Calverton Park	Stephanie Karr	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett, & O'Keefe	$6,321	$75.00	City Attorney (Normandy), City Attorney (Bellerive Acres), City Attorney (Ferguson), City Attorney (Edmundson), Prosecuting Attorney (Ferguson), Prosecuting Attorney (Bel-Nor), Prosecuting Attorney (Hazelwood), Special Counsel (Brentwood)
Champ	Gary Feder	Husch Blackwell	--	Billed as needed	None Found
Charlack	Ed Sluys	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$12,000	$180.00	None Found
Chesterfield	Harry O'Rourke	Stewart, Mittleman, Heggie & Henry, LLC	--	$165.00	None Found
Clarkson Valley	Patrick Butler		--	$100.00	None Found
Clayton	Kevin O'Keefe	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$30,000	$175.00	City Attorney (Bel-Nor), City Attorney (Bellefontaine Neighbors), City Attorney (Cool Valley), City Attorney (Des Peres), City Attorney (Edmundson), City Attorney (Ferguson), City Attorney (Hazelwood)
Cool Valley	Kevin O'Keefe	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$6,000	$125 - $150	City Attorney (Bel-Nor), City Attorney (Clayton), City Attorney (Bellefontaine Neighbors), City Attorney (Des Peres), City Attorney (Edmundson), City Attorney (Ferguson), City Attorney (Hazelwood)
Country Club Hills	Kenneth Heinz	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$24,000	$185.00	City Attorney (Richmond Heights), City Attorney (Bel-Ridge)
Country Life Acres	Anthony Soukenik		--	$250.00	None Found
Crestwood	Lisa Stump	Lashly & Baer	$47,520	$180.00	None Found
Creve Coeur	Carl Lumley	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$48,000	$180.00	None Found
Crystal Lake Park	Paul Martin	Paul Martin P.C.	--	$175.00	City Attorney (Breckenridge Hills), City Attorney (Rock Hill), City Attorney (Olivette)
Dellwood	Anthony Gray	Johnson & Gray, LLC	$26,400	$175.00	City Attorney (Hanley Hills), City Attorney (Pasadena Hills)
Des Peres	Kevin O'Keefe	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$14,400	$150.00	City Attorney (Bel-Nor), City Attorney (Clayton), City Attorney (Cool Valley), City Attorney (Bellefontaine Neighbors), City Attorney (Edmundson), City Attorney (Ferguson), City Attorney (Hazelwood)
Edmundson	Kevin O'Keefe	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$4,500	$150.00	City Attorney (Bel-Nor), City Attorney (Clayton), City Attorney (Cool Valley), City Attorney (Des Peres), City Attorney (Bellefontaine Neighbors), City Attorney (Ferguson), City Attorney (Hazelwood)
Ellisville	George Restovich	RestovichAllen, LLC	--	$180.00	Prosecuting Attorney (Ellisville)
Eureka	Katherine Butler	Katherine Butler & Associates	--	$90.00	City Prosecutor (Eureka)
Fenton	Paul Rost	Cunningham Vogel & Rost P.C.	--	$145.00	City Attorney (Green Park), City Attorney (Marlborough), City Attorney (Warson Woods)
Ferguson	Kevin O'Keefe	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	--	$175.00	City Attorney (Bel-Nor), City Attorney (Clayton), City Attorney (Cool Valley), City Attorney (Des Peres), City Attorney (Edmundson), City Attorney (Bellefontaine Neighbors), City Attorney (Hazelwood)
Flordell Hills	Jeffery Duke	Duke Legal LLC (Owner and Operator)	$18,000	--	Prosecuting Attorney (Flordell Hills)
Florissant	John Hessel	Lewis, Rice & Fingersh	$35,700	$265.00	City Attorney (Kirkwood), City Attorney (Twin Oaks)
Frontenac	Keith Cheung	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$18,000	--	Municipal Judge (Ladue), Prosecuting Attorney (St. Ann), Prosecuting Attorney (Frontenac), Prosecuting Attorney (Normandy)
Glen Echo Park	Richard Magee	Eckenrode-Maupin	$4,200	--	Mayor (Glendale), City Attorney (Grantwood Village), City Attorney (Uplands Park)
Glendale	James Hetlage	Lashly & Baer, P.C.	--	$175.00	None Found
Grantwood Village	Richard Magee	Eckenrode-Maupin	--	$150.00	Mayor (Glendale), City Attorney (Grantwood Village), City Attorney (Uplands Park)
Green Park	Paul Rost	Cunningham, Vogel & Rost P.C.	$12,000	$120.00	City Attorney (Marlborough), City Attorney (Warson Woods), City Attorney (Fenton)
Greendale	Philip Ayers		$4,500	$75.00	Municipal Judge (Calverton Park), Municipal Judge (Uplands Park)
Hanley Hills	Anthony Gray	Johnson & Gray, LLC	$12,600	$150.00	City Attorney (Dellwood), City Attorney (Pasadena Hills)
Hazelwood	Kevin O'Keefe	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$13,800	$175.00	City Attorney (Bel-Nor), City Attorney (Clayton), City Attorney (Cool Valley), City Attorney (Des Peres), City Attorney (Edmundson), City Attorney (Ferguson), City Attorney (Bellefontaine Neighbors)
Hillsdale	Alan Baker		$12,000	--	Prosecuting Attorney (Hillsdale)
Huntleigh	Peter Von Gontard	Sandberg Phoenix & von-Gontard P.C	$10,800	--	None Found
Jennings	Jamis Kresyman		$21,807	--	None Found
Kinloch	James Robinson		$12,000	$150.00	None Found
Kirkwood	John Hessel	Lewis, Rice & Fingerish	$51,000	$280.00	City Attorney (Florissant), City Attorney (Twin Oaks)
Ladue	John Maupin	Eckenrode Maupin Attorneys at Law	$24,000	$150.00	None Found
Lakeshire	Helmut Starr	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$22,000	--	City Attorney (Oakland), Prosecuting Attorney (Oakland), City Attorney (Webster Groves), Prosecuting Attorney (Webster Groves)
Mackenzie	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided	Information Not Provided
Manchester	Michael Gunn		$29,700	$150.00	Municipal Judge (Manchester)
Maplewood	Craig Biesterfield	Husch Blackwell			None Found
Marlborough	Paul Rost	Cunningham Vogel & Rost P.C.	--	$125.00	City Attorney (Green Park), City Attorney (Warson Woods), City Attorney (Fenton)
Maryland Heights	Howard Paperner	Howard Paperner, P.C.	--	$175.00	City Attorney (Winchester), Prosecuting Attorney (Winchester)
Moline Acres	Donnell Smith	Smith and Associates, LLC	$36,000	--	City Attorney (Beverly Hills), City Attorney (Berkeley), City Attorney (Pine Lawn), City Attorney (Velda Village Hills), Prosecuting Attorney (Berkeley), Municipal Judge (Greendale)
Normandy	Stephanie Karr	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	--	$145.00	City Attorney (Bellerive Acres), City Attorney (Calverton Park), City Attorney (Ferguson), City Attorney (Edmundson), Prosecuting Attorney (Ferguson), Prosecuting Attorney (Bel-Nor), Prosecuting Attorney (Hazelwood), Special Counsel (Brentwood)
Northwoods	Steven Garrett	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$9,600	$125.00	City Attorney (Town & Country), City Attorney (Velda City), City Attorney (St. Ann), City Attorney (Normandy)
Norwood Court	Dennis Callahan	Dennis Callahan, Attorney at Law	$11,400	--	None Found
Oakland	Helmut Starr	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$21,600	$250.00	City Attorney (Webster Groves), City Attorney (Lakeshire), Prosecuting Attorney (Oakland), Prosecuting Attorney (Webster Groves)
Olivette	Paul Martin	Paul Martin P.C.	$1,800	$175.00	City Attorney (Breckenridge Hills), City Attorney (Crystal Lake Park), City Attorney (Rock Hill)
Overland	Robert Herman		$15,000	--	None Found
Pacific	Matt Schroeder	Hansen, Stierberger, Downard, Schroeder & Head LLC	--	$110.00	None Found
Pagedale	Sam Alton		$12,000	--	City Prosecutor (Vinita Park), Municipal Judge (Edmundson)
Pasadena Hills	Anthony Gray	Johnson & Gray, LLC	$19,800	--	City Attorney (Dellwood), City Attorney (Hanley Hills)
Pasadena Park	Marc Kramer	N/A	$5,616	--	City Attorney (Vinita Terrace), Prosecuting Attorney (Vinita Terrace)
Pine Lawn	Donnell Smith	Smith & Associates LLC	$60,000	--	City Attorney (Beverly Hills), City Attorney (Moline Acres), City Attorney (Berkeley), City Attorney (Velda Village Hills), Prosecuting Attorney (Berkeley), Municipal Judge (Greendale)
Richmond Heights	Kenneth Heinz	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$30,000	$150.00	City Attorney (Bel-Ridge), City Attorney (Country Club Hills)
Riverview	Chris Graville	The Graville Law Firm, LLC			Municipal Judge (Oakland), Prosecuting Attorney (Riverview), Prosecuting Attorney (Ballwin), Prosecuting Attorney (Clarkson Valley), Prosecuting Attorney (Fenton), Prosecuting Attorney (Overland), Public Defender (Des Peres), Public Defender (Ellisville), Assistant Prosecuting Attorney (Overland)
Rock Hill	Paul Martin	Paul Martin P.C.	$7,320	--	City Attorney (Breckenridge Hills), City Attorney (Crystal Lake Park), City Attorney (Olivette)
Saint Ann	Steven Garrett	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$36,000	$150.00	City Attorney (Town & Country), City Attorney (Velda City), City Attorney (Northwoods), City Attorney (Normandy)
Saint John	Hardy Menees	Menees, Whitney, Burnet, & Trog	No Written Compensation Agreement	No Written Compensation Agreement	None Found
Saint Louis	Vacant
Shrewsbury	Michael Daming		$10,000	$150.00	None Found
STL County
Sunset Hills	Robert E. Jones	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$7,800	--	City Attorney (Ballwin), City Attorney (Sunset Hills), Prosecuting Attorney (Sunset Hills)
Sycamore Hills	John Tajkowski		$4,200	$150.00	None Found
Town & Country	Steven Garrett	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$42,000	--	City Attorney (Northwoods), City Attorney (Velda City), City Attorney (St. Ann), City Attorney (Normandy)
Twin Oaks	John Hessel	Lewis, Rice & Fingersh	--	$280.00	City Attorney (Florissant), City Attorney (Kirkwood)
University City	Darold Crotzer	Crotzer & Ormsby	$30,000	--	Prosecuting Attorney (Clayton)
Uplands Park	Richard Magee	Eckenrode-Maupin	$9,000	--	Mayor (Glendale), City Attorney (Grantwood Village), City Attorney (Uplands Park)
Valley Park	Timothy Engelmeyer	Engelmeyer & Pezzani L.L.C	--	$125.00	Municipal Judge (Creve Coeur), Prosecuting Attorney (Chesterfield), Prosecuting Attorney (Des Peres), Prosecuting Attorney (Valley Park), Deputy Prosecuting Attorney (Wildwood)
Velda City	Steven Garrett	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$9,200		City Attorney (Town & Country), City Attorney (Northwoods), City Attorney (St. Ann), City Attorney (Normandy)
Velda Village Hills	Donnell Smith		$4,800	$165.00	City Attorney (Beverly Hills), City Attorney (Moline Acres), City Attorney (Pine Lawn), City Attorney (Berkeley), Prosecuting Attorney (Berkeley), Municipal Judge (Greendale)
Vinita Park	C. John Pleban	Pleban & Petruska Law, L.L.C.	$21,000	$150.00	None Found
Vinita Terrace	Marc Kramer	Marc Kramer Law	$12,000	--	City Attorney (Pasadena Park), Prosecuting Attorney (Vinita Terrace)
Warson Woods	Paul Rost	Cunningham, Vogel & Rost P.C.	--	$145.00	City Attorney (Green Park), City Attorney (Marlborough), City Attorney (Fenton)
Webster Groves	Helmut Starr	Curtis, Heinz, Garrett & O'Keefe P.C.	$108,000	$275.00	City Attorney (Oakland), City Attorney (Lakeshire), Prosecuting Attorney (Oakland), Prosecuting Attorney (Webster Groves)
Wellston	Wesley Bell	Law office of Wesley JC Bell, L.L.C	--	$150.00	City Prosecutor (Riverview), Municipal Judge (Velda City), City Counilman (Ferguson)
Westwood	Fred Berger	Reizman Berger Attorneys & Counselors at Law	$0	$0.00	None Found
Wilbur Park	Robert Paster	Robert W. Paster, LLC	--	$275.00	None Found
Wildwood	Robert Golterman	Lews, Rice & Fingersh	$63,600	$245.00	None Found
Winchester	Howard Paperner	Howard Paperner, P.C.	$20,808	--	City Attorney (Maryland Heights), Prosecuting Attorney (Winchester)
Woodson Terrace	Frank Vatterott	Vatterott, Harris, Devine, & Kwentus, P.C.	--	$325.00	Municipal Judge (Overland), Provision Judge (Fenton), Provision Judge (Bridgeton), Provision Judge (Ladue)
TOTAL	N/A	N/A	$1,270,592	N/A	N/A
AVERAGE	N/A	N/A	$21,535	$175	N/A
MEDIAN	N/A	N/A	$14,400	$165	N/A

City attorneys play a pivotal and influential role in municipalities throughout the St. Louis region. A deeper dive into the preceding information at a regional level reveals just how great that influence is. For example, a single law firm of nine attorneys serves as city attorneys for 27 municipalities, nearly one-third of all municipal governments in the region. These same attorneys also serve as the prosecutor in 12 of the same municipalities. Another nine municipalities have a similar arrangement with attorneys and firms serving as both the city attorney and prosecutor. In the City of Manchester, the city attorney also serves as the municipal judge. In all, a group of 14 attorneys serve as the city attorney for over half of the local governments in the St. Louis region, 46 in total.

Another city attorney also serves as a judge in one municipality, a city attorney in a second municipality, and a city councilman in a third. Yet another serves as a municipal mayor and as city attorney for three other cities. In all, what is revealed is a core group of unelected individuals with many masters and who serve in a multitude of the most influential roles throughout the municipal system.

Municipal Operations

As part of Better Together’s research into the day-to-day functions of the municipal governments in the region, information regarding the operation of city halls across the region was collected. As with seemingly every aspect of the municipal governments throughout the region, the operation of city hall hours ranged – from Glen Echo Park, which has no formal hours, to Pasadena Hills, which is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00am-1:00pm and 3:00pm-5:00pm, to full-time city halls such as Overland and University City, which operate under normal business hours from 8:00am-5:00pm. While seemingly trivial, access matters as it is required in many municipalities for licensing, permits, and to obtain municipal information. Better Together struggled to have requests for information delivered to some communities simply because their municipal hall operated for only a few hours each week, or they simply did not operate one. An interactive map of all municipal halls, along with contact information and hours of operation, is available at [1].

Each month in the St. Louis region, 571 trustees/aldermen, 91 mayors, and the St. Louis County Executive gather at the 131 city council/board of alderman meetings that take place in their respective cities throughout the St. Louis region. However, in the case of Clarkson Valley, aldermanic meetings are actually held in the neighboring City of Ballwin. A table of the schedule for each of council/alderman meeting follows:

MUNICIPALITY	COUNCIL MEETINGS
Ballwin	The Board of Aldermen meet on the second and fourth Mondays of each month at 7:00 p.m.
Bel-Nor	The City Council meetings are held on the third Monday of each month at 7:30pm
Bel-Ridge	The City Council meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month at 6:00pm
Bella Villa	The City Council meetings are held on the 4th Thursday of each month at 7:00pm
Bellefontaine Neighbors	The Board of Aldermen meet on the first and third Thursday of each month at 7:30pm
Bellerive Acres	The City Council meetings are held on the 4th Monday of each month at 7:30pm
Berkeley	The City Council meetings are held on the first and third Monday of each month at 7:00pm-9:00pm
Beverly Hills	The City Council meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm
Black Jack	The City Council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7:30pm
Breckenridge Hills	The City Council meetings are held on the third Monday of each month at 7:00pm
Brentwood	The Board of Aldermen meetings are on the first and third Monday of each month at 7:00pm Held at Brentwood City Hall
Bridgeton	The City Council meetings are held on the first and third Wednesday of each month at 7:00pm Held at Bridgeton City Hall
Calverton Park	The City Council meetings are held on the fourth Monday of each month at 7:00pm
Champ	The City Council meetings are held on the third Monday of each month at 5:30pm
Charlack	The Board meetings are on the first Tuesday of each month from 7:00pm-8:30pm
Chesterfield	The City Council meetings are held on the first and third Monday of each month at 7:00pm-8:00pm
Clarkson Valley	The Board of Aldermen meet on the first Tuesday of each month at 7:30pm
Clayton	The Board of Aldermen meet on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm
Cool Valley	The City Council meetings are held on the fourth Wednesday of each month at 7:30pm
Country Club Hills	The City Council meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30pm
Country Life Acres	The City Council Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 8:00pm
Crestwood	The Board of Aldermen meet on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm
Creve Coeur	The City Council meetings are held on the first Tuesday and fourth Monday of each month at 7:00pm-8:00pm
Crystal Lake Park	The Board of Aldermen meet on the fourth Monday of each month at 7:00pm
Dellwood	The Board of Aldermen meet on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 7:30pm
Des Peres	The Board of Aldermen meet on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 7:00pm- 9:00pm
Edmundson	The City Council meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm
Ellisville	The City Council meetings are held on the firsts and third Wednesday each month at 7:00pm
Eureka	The City Council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm
Fenton	The Board of Aldermen meet on the last Thursday of each month at 7:00pm
Ferguson	The City Council meetings are held on the last Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm- 9:00pm
Flordell Hills	The City Council meetings are held on the third Monday of each month at 6:00pm
Florissant	The City Council meetings are held on the second Monday of each month at 7:30pm- 11:59pm
Frontenac	The Board of Aldermen meet on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm
Glen Echo Park	The City Council meetings are held on the third Tuesday at 7:30m
Glendale	The Board of Aldermen meet on the first and thrd Monday of each month at 7:30pm
Grantwood Village	The Board of Trustees meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 7:00pm
Green Park	The Board of Aldermen meet on the third Monday of each month at 7:00pm
Greendale	City Council meetings held on 3rd Tuesday at 6:30pm
Hanley Hills	City Council meetings held on 3rd Thursday 7:00pm
Hazelwood	The City Council meetings are held on the first and third Monday of each month at 7:30-8:30pm
Hillsdale	The City Council meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:00pm
Huntleigh	The City Council meetings are held on the fourth Monday of each month at 7:30pm (Jan., Apr., Aug., Nov)
Jennings	The City Council meetings are held at 7:00pm
Kinloch	The City Council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm
Kirkwood	The City Council meeting are held at 7:00pm
Ladue	The City Council meetings are held on the third Monday of each month at 4:00-5:00pm
Lakeshire	The Board of Aldermen meet on the second Monday of each month at 7:00pm
Mackenzie	The City Council meetings are held on the second Wednesday at 7:30pm
Manchester	The Board of Aldermen meet on the second Tuesday of every month at 7:00pm
Maplewood	The City Council meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month at 7:30-8:30pm
Marlborough	The City Council meetings are held on the second Monday at 7:00pm
Maryland Heights	The City Council meetings are held on the first and third Thursday of every month at 7:00pm
Moline Acres	The City Council meetings are held on the second Tuesday at 6:00pm
Normandy	The City Council meetngs are held on the first and third Thursday every month at 7:00pm
Northwoods	The City Council meetngs are held on the second and fourth Tuesday at 7:30pm
Norwood Court	The City Council meetings are held on the third Monday at 7:00pm
Oakland	The Board of Aldermen meet on the second Monday of each month at 7:00pm
Olivette	The City Council meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesday at 7:00pm
Overland	The City Council meetings are held on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 7:00pm
Pacific	The City Council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday at 7:00pm
Pagedale	The Board of Aldermen meet on the second Thursday of each month at 7:30pm
Pasadena Hills	The Board of Trustees meet on the last Monday of each month at 6:00pm to 7:00pm
Pasadena Park	The City Council meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:30pm
Pine Lawn	The CIty Council meetings are held on the second Monday of each month at 6:00pm
Richmond Heights	The City Council meetings are held on the first and third of eah Monday at 7:30pm
Riverview	The City Council meetings are held on the fourth Thursday at 7:00pm
Rock Hill	The Board of Aldermen meet on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Saint Ann	The Board of Aldermen meet on the first Monday of each month at 7:30pm
Saint John	The City Council meeting are held on the first and third Monday of each monh at 7:00pm
Saint Louis	The board of Aldermen meet every Friday of each month from 10:00am - 12:00pm
Shrewsbury	The City Council meetings are held on the second Tuesday at 7:00pm
STL County	The City Council meetings are held every Tuesday of each month at 6:00pm
Sunset Hills	The Board of Aldermen meet on the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm
Sycamore Hills	The board of Trustee meet on the third Thursday of each month at 7:00pm
Town & Country	The Board of Aldermen meet on the second and forth Monday of each month at 7:00pm
Twin Oaks	The Board of Trustees meet on the first and third Wednesday of each month at 6:30pm
University City	The City Council meetings are held on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 6:30pm-9:00pm
Uplands Park	The City Council meetings are held on the second Monday of each month at 6:00pm
Valley Park	The City Council meetings are held on the first and third Monday of each month at 7:00pm
Velda City	The Board meetings are held on the 2nd wednesday of each month at 7:30pm- 8:30pm
Velda Village Hills	The City Council meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month at 6:00pm
Vinita Park	The Board of Aldermen meet on the 3rd Monday of each month at 6:30pm- 8:00pm
Vinita Terrace	The City Council meetings are held on the 1st Monday of each month at 7:00pm
Warson Woods	The Board meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 7:00pm
Webster Groves	The City Council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesday or each month at 6:30-8:3pm
Wellston	The City Council meetings are held on the first and third Wednesday at 5:30pm
Westwood	The Board meetings are held on the last Tuesday of each month at 5:00pm-6:00pm
Wilbur Park	The Board of Trustees meet on the third Tuesday of every month at 7:00 pm.
Wildwood	The City Council meeting are held on the second and 4th monday of each month at 7:30pm-9:30pm
Winchester	The City Council meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month at 7:30pm
Woodson Terrace	The Board of Aldermen meet on the third Thursday of each month at 7:00pm

Throughout the St. Louis region, municipalities are influenced by a small community of advisers on important decisions that impact the entire St. Louis region. Some argue that this system provides part-time officials with access to years of experience working in the system and that the special expertise is an asset. Others contend that it leads to a lack of transparency, innovation, and fresh air that would benefit the fragmented St. Louis region. As previous reports have shown, each year the St. Louis region spends over $600 more per capita than Indianapolis and $700 more per capita than Louisville-Jefferson County on municipal services. This report provides yet more examples of where this money is going.

Furthermore, the cost of fragmentation manifests itself not only in financial terms, but in opportunity cost, as well. Reform and innovation on even the simplest of issues proves too difficult when a success must be replicated 90 times over and across many municipalities that barely have the funding to operate at the status quo.

Revelations like those shown in this report prompt the question as to whether St. Louis citizens can afford to maintain and operate so many individual small governments. The data shows that fragmentation is not free and that the status quo is neither efficient nor effective. Further, neither academic research nor regional comparisons revealed best practices for addressing fragmented administration at the scale existing in the St. Louis region. Ninety-one mayors, 90 city attorneys, 571 aldermen, 684 total elected officials, and over 80 municipal halls come at a cost. In a region that has seen widespread abuse in municipal courts in pursuit of revenue and communities unable to pay police officers a professional wage, the economic and real-life costs of fragmentation matter.

The Impact of Fragmentation on Civic Engagement

The three previous General Administration studies revealed that the St. Louis City and County region spends over $280 million dollars annually on the costs associated with the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of government operations across St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and the 90 municipalities within St. Louis County. Across the St. Louis region, these functions are carried out by 91 mayors, a county executive, 87 city managers, 571 aldermen, and 684 elected municipal officials, in over 80 city halls.

These numbers are significant because they offer an explanation for why St. Louisans pay $86 more per capita for general administration than comparable regions (such as Louisville, Kentucky, which has an integrated central Louisville Metro government). Should $86 per person seem insignificant, context demonstrates that it is not. If St. Louis were to operate at Louisville’s cost of administration, a regional savings in excess of $113 million would have been realized this past year. Simply put: The cost of fragmentation adds up.

Proponents of the current fragmented structure argue that it reflects what citizens want. Data says otherwise. The current structure, cobbled together over more than 200 years, embodies a perfect storm for civic disengagement. In fact, in the most recent municipal elections, only 12.21% of registered voters (or 9.41% of the voting-age population) cast a ballot. To put that number in perspective, a recent University of Wisconsin survey found that about 21% of the voting-age population cast ballots in 2011. Furthermore, the same pool of St. Louis voters turned out at a rate of over 60% across the region in the November 2012 elections. While proponents tout local control and civic engagement as benefits of smaller, localized municipal governance, data across the St. Louis region, including the fact that 29 municipal mayors in St. Louis County were elected with 100 votes (or fewer) cast, shows that that several factors including the extreme fragmentation of the region drastically reduce citizen engagement.

What follows is further investigation into data surrounding the region’s exceedingly low voter turnout in municipal elections, examination of the contributing causes, and potential best practices for boosting engagement and empowering citizens.

Municipal Elections in the St. Louis Region

While no one factor alone causes low citizen engagement in municipal governments across the St. Louis region, several factors have significant impacts. The positive news is that each issue can be directly addressed.

Election Timing

One such factor, election timing, is not unique to the St. Louis region. Under Missouri statute, the election day for political-subdivision and special-district officers is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in April each year, and is known as the general municipal election day. Across the country, low voter turnout plagues independent municipal elections with only 21% of voting-age population casting municipal election ballots in 2011. In the St. Louis region, the percentage of registered voters casting a ballot in the most recent municipal election was 12.21% or 9.41% of the voting-age population. The following table provides information on each of the most recent municipal elections for St. Louis City, St. Louis County, and the 90 municipalities in the County.

MUNICIPALITY	2014 POPULATION ESTIMATE	NUMBER OF REGISTERED VOTERS	2014 TOTAL VOTES CAST	2014 TURNOUT %	ESTIMATE OF VOTING AGE POPULATION	VOTING AGE POP. TURNOUT %
Ballwin	30,478	21,465	1,981	9.23%	23,438	8.45%
Bel-Nor	1,522	1,133	260	22.95%	1,310	19.84%
Bel-Ridge	2,737	1,409	197	13.98%	1,837	10.73%
Bella Villa	729	456	67	14.69%	586	11.43%
Bellefontaine Neighbors	10,823	6,765	638	9.43%	8,052	7.92%
Bellerive Acres	203	175	60	34.29%	172	34.90%
Berkeley	9,120	5,383	950	17.65%	6,740	14.10%
Beverly Hills	440	394	37	9.39%	379	9.77%
Black Jack	6,924	4,708	1,036	22.01%	5,366	19.31%
Breckenridge Hills	4,728	4,597	512	11.14%	3,442	14.88%
Brentwood	8,048	2,066	289	13.99%	6,543	4.42%
Bridgeton	11,654	7,430	687	9.25%	9,102	7.55%
Calverton Park	1,293	779	84	10.78%	1,049	8.01%
Champ	11	9	5	55.56%	11	45.45%
Charlack	1,274	731	152	20.79%	1,017	14.95%
Chesterfield	47,651	33,881	3,551	10.48%	37,120	9.57%
Clarkson Valley	2,638	2,049	211	10.30%	2,013	10.48%
Clayton	15,912	8,914	2,877	32.28%	13,239	21.73%
Cool Valley	1,133	801	132	16.48%	939	14.05%
Country Club Hills	1,415	710	157	22.11%	843	18.62%
Country Life Acres	128	84	2	2.38%	90	2.22%
Crestwood	11,934	9,119	3,272	35.88%	9,380	34.88%
Creve Coeur	17,841	12,458	1,515	12.16%	14,094	10.75%
Crystal Lake Park	582	387	41	10.59%	418	9.81%
Dellwood	5,010	3,171	568	17.91%	3,367	16.87%
Des Peres	8,443	6,884	727	10.56%	6,510	11.17%
Edmundson	951	376	27	7.18%	674	4.00%
Ellisville	9,162	6,780	1,873	27.63%	7,036	26.62%
Eureka	10,375	6,658	1,087	16.33%	7,304	14.88%
Fenton	4,037	3,093	615	19.88%	3,084	19.94%
Ferguson	21,151	12,096	1,484	12.27%	15,292	9.70%
Flordell Hills	839	480	46	9.58%	608	7.56%
Florissant	52,353	14,592	2,414	16.54%	39,841	6.06%
Frontenac	3,512	2,895	211	7.29%	2,743	7.69%
Glen Echo Park	122	112	21	18.75%	89	23.58%
Glendale	5,926	4,472	204	4.56%	4,142	4.92%
Grantwood Village	881	699	281	40.20%	686	40.94%
Green Park	2,626	1,763	281	15.94%	2,119	13.26%
Greendale	725	510	90	17.65%	604	14.90%
Hanley Hills	2,109	1,347	132	9.80%	1,660	7.95%
Hazelwood	25,671	16,094	2,642	16.42%	19,767	13.37%
Hillsdale	1,337	834	97	11.63%	943	10.29%
Huntleigh	468	302	15	4.97%	331	4.53%
Jennings	14,730	8,618	654	7.59%	11,048	5.92%
Kinloch	234	176	83	47.16%	182	45.59%
Kirkwood	27,587	21,147	2,679	12.67%	21,518	12.45%
Ladue	8,549	6,963	749	10.76%	6,343	11.81%
Lakeshire	1,690	864	172	19.91%	1,333	12.90%
Mackenzie	122	90	9	10.00%	111	8.11%
Manchester	18,125	12,477	815	6.53%	13,974	5.83%
Maplewood	7,987	4,727	522	11.04%	6,885	7.58%
Marlborough	2,206	893	67	7.50%	2,012	3.33%
Maryland Heights	27,420	15,719	1,633	10.39%	21,689	7.53%
Moline Acres	2,299	1,623	244	15.03%	1,724	14.15%
Normandy	4,990	2,354	279	11.85%	3,862	7.22%
Northwoods	4,213	3,073	561	18.26%	3,324	16.88%
Norwood Court	923	358	34	9.50%	751	4.53%
Oakland	1,377	914	44	4.81%	1,131	3.89%
Olivette	7,809	5,453	678	12.43%	5,888	11.51%
Overland	16,043	9,583	1,015	10.59%	12,417	8.17%
Pacific	6,047	10	6	60.00%	4,517	0.13%
Pagedale	3,313	2,362	338	14.31%	2,405	14.05%
Pasadena Hills	964	732	232	31.69%	849	27.32%
Pasadena Park	527	316	44	13.92%	421	10.45%
Pine Lawn	3,335	2,197	266	12.11%	2,448	10.87%
Richmond Heights	8,526	6,130	548	8.94%	6,940	7.90%
Riverview	2,854	1,318	138	10.47%	1,975	6.99%
Rock Hill	4,635	3,318	408	12.30%	3,685	11.07%
Saint Ann	12,988	7,779	1,292	16.61%	10,351	12.48%
Saint John	6,486	3,679	331	9.00%	5,059	6.54%
Saint Louis City (Municipal Primary)	318,727	181,967	17,306	9.51%	253,069	6.84%
Saint Louis City (Municipal General)	318,727	182,525	18,200	9.97%	253,069	7.19%
Shrewsbury	6,217	4,120	314	7.62%	5,216	6.02%
Sunset Hills	8,523	6,566	2,246	34.21%	6,512	34.49%
Sycamore Hills	566	490	43	8.78%	489	8.79%
Town & Country	10,890	8,125	1,282	15.78%	8,668	14.79%
Twin Oaks	317	279	92	32.97%	256	35.92%
University City	35,226	24,467	4,589	18.76%	28,780	15.95%
Uplands Park	391	302	130	43.05%	326	39.87%
Valley Park	6,980	3,885	1,119	28.80%	5,640	19.84%
Velda City	1,252	967	111	11.48%	942	11.79%
Velda Village Hills	917	844	157	18.60%	704	22.29%
Vinita Park	1,776	1,098	412	37.52%	1,343	30.69%
Vinita Terrace	230	188	22	11.70%	196	11.23%
Warson Woods	1,865	1,580	249	15.76%	1,386	17.97%
Webster Grooves	23,084	16,748	1,689	10.08%	17,521	9.64%
Wellston	2,010	1,317	338	25.66%	1,146	29.50%
Westwood	327	254	28	11.02%	274	10.22%
Wilbur Park	517	324	45	13.89%	425	10.59%
Wildwood	35,701	24,777	3,233	13.05%	25,205	12.83%
Winchester	1,583	920	60	6.52%	1,262	4.76%
Woodson Terrace	4,070	2,208	148	6.70%	3,228	4.59%
TOTAL	1,320,791	795,885	97,182	12.21%	1,032,478	9.41%
AVERAGE	14,356	8,651	1,056	16.52%	11,223	13.95%
MEDIAN	3,424	2,132	280	12.37%	2,595	10.97%

To put these municipal numbers in general context, voter turnout for the November 2012 elections was 74% of registered voters in the City of St. Louis and 76% of registered voters in St. Louis County. In the mid-term elections of November 2014, turnout for the City was 34%6 and turnout for the County was 44%, more than doubling the regional turnout of the most recent municipal election.

These figures reflect a significantly higher level of voter engagement and suggest an opportunity to increase voter turnout in municipal elections. Kentucky demonstrates the potential for increased turnout and engagement in municipal official elections. In Kentucky, all officers required to be elected in cities, urban counties, and towns are selected as part of the November elections in even numbered years. Kentucky is one of several states with this practice. As a result, turnout for these elections has ranged from 49% to 60% in the past three elections. Other states holding their municipal elections in November of even- numbered years such as Arkansas (50%) and Nebraska (48%) experienced similarly high turnout.

These examples are a reflection of a broader trend. Research shows that shifting a municipal election to a presidential election year results in an 18.5-percentage-point jump in turnout, while changing to a November midterm election yields an 8.7-point increase on average. A look at the difference between federal election turnout and municipal election turnout across the St. Louis region in the table below makes a strong argument for combining elections to increase citizen participation.

MUNICIPALITY	POPULATION	NUMBER OF REGISTERED VOTERS	TOTAL VOTES CAST	2014 MUNICIPAL ELECTION TURNOUT %	DIFFERENCE FROM COUNTY NOVEMBER 2014 TURNOUT
Ballwin	30,404	21,465	1,981	9.23%	-35.24%
Bel-Nor	1,499	1,133	260	22.95%	-21.52%
Bel-Ridge	2,737	1,409	197	13.98%	-30.49%
Bella Villa	729	456	67	14.69%	-29.78%
Bellefontaine Neighbors	10,860	6,765	638	9.43%	-35.04%
Bellerive Acres	188	175	60	34.29%	-10.18%
Berkeley	8,978	5,383	950	17.65%	-26.82%
Beverly Hills	574	394	37	9.39%	-35.08%
Black Jack	6,929	4,708	1,036	22.01%	-22.46%
Breckenridge Hills	4,746	4,597	512	11.14%	-33.33%
Brentwood	8,055	2,066	289	13.99%	-30.48%
Bridgeton	11,550	7,430	687	9.25%	-35.22%
Calverton Park	1,293	779	84	10.78%	-33.69%
Champ	13	9	5	55.56%	11.09%
Charlack	1,363	731	152	20.79%	-23.68%
Chesterfield	47,484	33,881	3,551	10.48%	-33.99%
Clarkson Valley	2,632	2,049	211	10.30%	-34.17%
Clayton	15,939	8,914	2,877	32.28%	-12.19%
Cool Valley	1,196	801	132	16.48%	-27.99%
Country Club Hills	1,274	710	157	22.11%	-22.36%
Country Life Acres	74	84	2	2.38%	-42.09%
Crestwood	11,912	9,119	3,272	35.88%	-8.59%
Creve Coeur	17,833	12,458	1,515	12.16%	-32.31%
Crystal Lake Park	470	387	41	10.59%	-33.88%
Dellwood	5,025	3,171	568	17.91%	-26.56%
Des Peres	8,373	6,884	727	10.56%	-33.91%
Edmundson	834	376	27	7.18%	-37.29%
Ellisville	9,133	6,780	1,873	27.63%	-16.84%
Eureka	10,189	6,658	1,087	16.33%	-28.14%
Fenton	4,022	3,093	615	19.88%	-24.59%
Ferguson	21,203	12,096	1,484	12.27%	-32.20%
Flordell Hills	822	480	46	9.58%	-34.89%
Florissant	52,158	14,592	2,414	16.54%	-27.93%
Frontenac	3,482	2,895	211	7.29%	-37.18%
Glen Echo Park	160	112	21	18.75%	-25.72%
Glendale	5,925	4,472	204	4.56%	-39.91%
Grantwood Village	863	699	281	40.20%	-4.27%
Green Park	2,622	1,763	281	15.94%	-28.53%
Greendale	651	510	90	17.65%	-26.82%
Hanley Hills	2,101	1,347	132	9.80%	-34.67%
Hazelwood	25,703	16,094	2,642	16.42%	-28.05%
Hillsdale	1,478	834	97	11.63%	-32.84%
Huntleigh	334	302	15	4.97%	-39.50%
Jennings	14,712	8,618	654	7.59%	-36.88%
Kinloch	298	176	83	47.16%	2.69%
Kirkwood	27,540	21,147	2,679	12.67%	-31.80%
Ladue	8,521	6,963	749	10.76%	-33.71%
Lakeshire	1,432	864	172	19.91%	-24.56%
Mackenzie	134	90	9	10.00%	-34.47%
Manchester	18,094	12,477	815	6.53%	-37.94%
Maplewood	8,046	4,727	522	11.04%	-33.43%
Marlborough	2,179.	893	67	7.50%	-36.97%
Maryland Heights	27,472	15,719	1,633	10.39%	-34.08%
Moline Acres	2,442	1,623	244	15.03%	-29.44%
Normandy	5,008	2,354	279	11.85%	-32.62%
Northwoods	4,227	3,073	561	18.26%	-26.21%
Norwood Court	959	358	34	9.50%	-34.97%
Oakland	1,381	914	44	4.81%	-39.66%
Olivette	7,737	5,453	678	12.43%	-32.04%
Overland	16,062	9,583	1,015	10.59%	-33.88%
Pacific	7,002	10	6	60.00%	15.53%
Pagedale	3,304	2,362	338	14.31%	-30.16%
Pasadena Hills	930	732	232	31.69%	-12.78%
Pasadena Park	470	316	44	13.92%	-30.55%
Pine Lawn	3,275	2,197	266	12.11%	-32.36%
Richmond Heights	8,603	6,130	548	8.94%	-35.53%
Riverview	2,856	1,318	138	10.47%	-34.00%
Rock Hill	4,635	3,318	408	12.30%	-32.17%
Saint Ann	13,020	7,779	1,292	16.61%	-27.86%
Saint John	6,517	3,679	331	9.00%	-35.47%
Saint Louis City (Municipal Primary)	319,294	181,967	17,306	9.51%	-34.96%
Saint Louis City (Municipal General)	319,294	182,525	18,200	9.97%	-34.50%
Shrewsbury	6,254	4,120	314	7.62%	-36.85%
Sunset Hills	8,496	6,566	2,246	34.21%	-10.26%
Sycamore Hills	668	490	43	8.78%	-35.69%
Town & Country	10,815	8,125	1,282	15.78%	-28.69%
Twin Oaks	392	279	92	32.97%	-11.50%
University City	35,371	24,467	4,589	18.76%	-25.71%
Uplands Park	445	302	130	43.05%	-1.42%
Valley Park	6,942	3,885	1,119	28.80%	-15.67%
Velda City	1,420	967	111	11.48%	-32.99%
Velda Village Hills	1,055	844	157	18.60%	-25.87%
Vinita Park	1,880	1,098	412	37.52%	-6.95%
Vinita Terrace	277	188	22	11.70%	-32.77%
Warson Woods	1,962	1,580	249	15.76%	-28.71%
Webster Grooves	22,995	16,748	1,689	10.08%	-34.39%
Wellston	2,313	1,317	338	25.66%	-18.81%
Westwood	278	254	28	11.02%	-33.45%
Wilbur Park	471	324	45	13.89%	-30.58%
Wildwood	35,517	24,777	3,233	13.05%	-31.42%
Winchester	1,547	920	60	6.52%	-37.95%
Woodson Terrace	4,063	2,208	148	6.70%	-37.77%
TOTAL	1,322,415	795,885	97,182	12.21%	-32.26%
AVERAGE	14,374	8,651	1,056	16.52%	-27.95%
MEDIAN	3,393	2,132	280	12.37%	-32.10%

There is also a financial benefit to combining federal, state, and local elections. Maryland’s General Assembly voted to delay Baltimore’s next local election by one year in order to coincide with the 2016 presidential election, a move that is projected to save an estimated $3.7 million. Under a related plan, the St. Louis region could also realize savings while increasing turnout for municipal elections suffering from single-digit turnout in some areas.

Municipal Courts, Warrants, and Voter Disenfranchisement

As mentioned earlier in this report, low voter turnout in independent municipal elections is a problem across the country. However, St. Louis also has special circumstances that exacerbate these issues and contribute to especially low municipal election turnout in the region.

One such contributing factor is the location of polling places. In municipalities around St. Louis County, 18 polling places are in the same building as the municipal police headquarters. While this is not an illegal nor even uncommon practice, it must be viewed within the context of a region that has over 450,000 outstanding warrants from municipal courts, nearly one-third of which originate in the same 18 municipalities.

MUNICPALITY	POPULATION	WARRANTS OUTSTANDING AS OF JUNE 30, 2014	WARRANTS ISSUED DURING FY2014
Bel-Nor	1,499	2,111	711
Bel-Ridge	2,737	4,227	1,504
Beverly Hills	574	N/A	N/A
Black Jack	6,929	1,606	985
Calverton Park	1,293	10,832	4,770
Country Club Hills	1,274	34,745	2,340
Eureka	10,189	857	394
Fenton	4,022	2,698	1,759
Hanley Hills	2,101	1,545	893
Hazelwood	25,703	11,716	12,400
Maplewood	8,046	3,106	1,251
Maryland Heights	27,472	4,046	10,535
Normandy	5,008	12,540	16,888
Pagedale	3,304	22,384	10,318
Pine Lawn	3,275	20,525	708
Riverview	2,856	10,407	3,283
St. John	6,517	4,556	2,606
Vinita Park	1,880	1,419	489
TOTAL	114,679	149,320	71,834
AVERAGE	6,371	8,784	4,226
MEDIAN	3,290	4,227	1,759

It is important to note that while most people conjure up an image of a criminal upon hearing the word “warrant,” in the St. Louis region it is just as likely to reflect an individual who was unable to pay a traffic fine, or a citation for code violation and missed a court date. In fact, the issuance of warrants has become so prolific that 27 municipalities in St. Louis County have accrued more outstanding warrants than they have residents. These warrants serve as significant barriers to citizens and, as reports have shown, disproportionately impact municipalities with large populations of African-Americans and the poor.

Over the past two-years, the Department of Justice, the Ferguson Commission, Arch City Defenders , Saint Louis University’s Legal Clinic, and the Missouri Legislature have taken steps toward reforming municipal courts throughout the St. Louis region. As a result, significant reforms have been implemented. However, in the wake of the major municipal court reform ushered in by Senate Bill 5 lie roughly a half-million municipal court warrants. These warrants are a product of 52,000 pages of municipal ordinances that span the St. Louis region and are the vestige of a broken and unsupervisable system of 81 municipal courts that were readily utilized to generate revenue. Relocation of these polling locations and an order for a thorough review of outstanding warrants will serve to heal a divide between residents and local governments, as well as reengage citizens in local decision-making.

Reforming the Current Structure

As referenced earlier in this report, some proponents of St. Louis’ current structure argue that the region’s fragmentation reflects what residents want. However, a review of the processes for incorporating and disincorporating cities reveal that it may simply reflect a system that is inherited and resistant to change. In other words, if you would like to incorporate a subdivision with the hopes of attracting the Olympics – as the founder of Champ, Missouri, did – then the St. Louis region is the place for you. However, should you desire to unincorporate a municipality that you feel is no longer able to serve its residents, that will be much more challenging or potentially impossible.

In most of Missouri, the process to incorporate as a municipality is relatively easy, while disincorporating is much more difficult. The municipal incorporation process for most parts of the state is fairly straightforward. In order to incorporate, a petition of “voters equal to fifteen percent of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election in the area proposed to be incorporated” must be submitted to the county in which the territory is to incorporate. Once reviewed by the appropriate county authority, the issue of incorporation is placed on the ballot. A simple majority of the ballots cast in the election is sufficient to approve the incorporation initiative.

The process for incorporation in St. Louis County is slightly different. The statutes lay out a separate process for any “county with a charter form of government where fifty or more cities, towns and villages have been incorporated.” With its 90 municipalities and charter form of county government, St. Louis County must adhere to this separate process for incorporating municipalities. For qualifying counties (St. Louis County is the only one), the statutes establish a special Boundary Commission to help regulate the incorporation, annexations, and merging of municipal boundary. The commission is an eleven-member body appointed by a variety of different interests – from the county executive, to mayors of varying city sizes, to the Municipal League – that reviews and makes recommendations about proposed boundary changes or incorporation proposals. The fifteen-percent threshold for petition to incorporate a municipality is still the same but must be then approved through the Boundary Commission’s procedures. These procedures include publishing notification and a public hearing. If the Boundary Commission approves the proposed annexation, merger, or incorporation, all affected areas must then approve of the proposal by a simple majority vote. For an area seeking annexation or merger, all municipalities or areas to be annexed or merged must independently have a majority of the voters approving for the proposal to pass. In the case of a new incorporation, a majority of the residents in the proposed area must approve.

While the process for incorporating a new municipality in St. Louis County now involves a Boundary Commission, that was not always the case. Until the late 1980s, when the commission was established, St. Louis County followed the same procedure as other counties in the state. This led to a proliferation of municipalities, easily established for a variety of purposes. The extreme example is Champ, which was founded in 1959 upon one man’s vision to build an Olympic-quality stadium and an industrial park. Those plans never panned out; no stadium or industrial park was ever realized. However, 57 years later, the Village of Champ still exists with a population of thirteen, according to 2010 U.S. census figures. Champ and other municipalities continue to exist, in part, due to the relatively high threshold for municipal disincorporation in Missouri.

Charter cities can specify a process for disincorporation in their charter. In order to disincorporate a village or fourth-class city in Missouri, a petition of one-half of the voters in the city must be submitted. Once certified, notice is given in a local paper for four successive weeks, and then the issue is placed on the ballot. A disincorporation proposal must garner 60% of the vote in order to pass. In practice this can lead to situations like residents of Uplands Park experienced in 2013. More than 170 voters in Uplands Park signed the petition to put the question of disincorporation on the ballot, and 51% of voters approved the measure. However, because of the high threshold for disincorporation set out by state statute, the will of the majority did not win out and Uplands Park remains an incorporated village.

Perhaps even more remarkable is the fact that there is currently no process for disincorporation of a third-class city in Missouri statutes. While there is a high threshold for fourth-class cities and villages, the lack of a process at all for third-class cities means that voters in eight municipalities of St. Louis County do not have the option to dissolve their local government structure. One of those third-class cities is Wellston. Over the past several years, Wellston has been plagued with a variety of issues, ranging from the mayor stealing city employee paychecks to physical altercations between police officials. Yet, even if the citizen of Wellston organized to meet the high threshold of 50% of voters needed in other towns, they would not be able to vote on dissolving their own city government.

Potential Reforms

This report highlights the civic costs of fragmentation. While no one best practice or reform can remedy low citizen engagement in the political processes, there are several steps that can be taken, which together can reengage voters and empower residents of the St. Louis region. First, municipal elections should be moved to the November ballot. The elections will benefit from greater turnout and taxpayer savings. Furthermore, the 18 polling places co-located in police stations should be moved, and the 21st Circuit should call for a review of all outstanding municipal warrants. Municipal courts throughout the St. Louis County circuit account for nearly half of all municipal warrants statewide. While Senate Bill 5 and other reforms have altered the system moving forward, additional steps must be taken to reengage citizens marginalized by previous practices.

Finally, citizens must be truly empowered to have their government and their region reflect what they want, as proponents contend. When it is easier to incorporate a city than it is for a majority of citizens to disincorporate a city, the system should change. Similarly, a clear pathway should be established for third-class cities to disincorporate. Overall, balance must be restored to a system that is currently geared towards incorporation. Only then can the argument be credibly made that the current structure reflects the desires of the citizenry.

Community-Based Studies

• Public Finance
• Economic Development
• Public Health
• Public Safety : ( Municipal Courts , Police , Fire Protection )
• Parks and Recreation
• General Administration

References

1. ↑ A Ten-Year Perspective of the Merger of Louisville and Jefferson County, KY: Louisville Metro ::Vaults from 65th to 18th Largest City in the Nation by Jeff Wachter, available at :: http://www.abell.org/sites/default/files/publications/cd-louisvillemerger1013.pdf
2. ↑ A Ten-Year Perspective of the Merger of Louisville and Jefferson County, KY: Louisville Metro Vaults from 65th to 18th Largest City in the Nation by Jeff Wachter, available at http://www.abell.org/sites/default/files/publications/cd-louisvillemerger1013.pdf
3. ↑ A Ten-Year Perspective of the Merger of Louisville and Jefferson County, KY: Louisville Metro Vaults from 65th to 18th Largest City in the Nation by Jeff Wachter, available at http://www.abell.org/sites/default/files/publications/cd-louisvillemerger1013.pdf
4. ↑
5. ↑ http://www.bettertogetherstl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/BT-Regional-Comparison-Overview2.pdf
6. ↑ A Chronological History of Local Sales Tax in St. Louis County, Tim Fischesser, November 9, 2011 available at https://www.brentwoodmo.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/976
7. ↑ A Chronological History of Local Sales Tax in St. Louis County, Tim Fischesser, November 9, 2011 available at https://www.brentwoodmo.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/976
8. ↑ http://www.bettertogetherstl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Better-Together-Economic-DevelopmentReport-FULL-REPORT.pdf
9. ↑ http://www.bettertogetherstl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Better-Together-Economic-DevelopmentReport-TIF-Report.pdf
10. ↑ Public Safety – Municipal Courts, Better Together available at http://www.bettertogetherstl.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/10/BTMunicipal-Courts-Report-Full-Report1.pdf
11. ↑
12. ↑ League of Women Voters - Ballot Propositions for November 3, 2015, available at
13. ↑ https://louisvilleky.gov/
14. ↑ https://louisvilleky.gov/
15. ↑
16. ↑ https://louisvilleky.gov/news/mayor-fischer-announces-louisville-metro-government-fiscal-surplus
17. ↑ Aldermen, for the purpose of this report, are members of legislative bodies such as village trustees, councilmen, aldermen, and the St. Louis County Council members.
18. ↑ Aldermen, for the purpose of this report, are members of legislative bodies such as village trustees, councilmen, aldermen, and the St. Louis County Council members.
19. ↑ Mayors as used in this report includes “Chairmen” for municipalities classified as villages.
20. ↑ The full‐time compensation for the operation of St. Louis County by the County Executive of St. Louis County is $140,000 annually.
21. ↑ “Forms of Municipal Government,” National League of Cities, 2016. Avaiable at:
22. ↑ Forms of Government for Missouri Municipalities, Missouri Municipal League, June 2007. Available at: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.mocities.com/resource/resmgr/publications/forms_of_government.pdf
23. ↑ RSMo § 77 & RSMo § 78
24. ↑ RSMo § 78.430.1
25. ↑ RSMo § 78.610.1
26. ↑ “Mayoral Powers,” National League of Cities, 2016. Available at:
27. ↑ RSMo § 80.060.1
28. ↑ Warson Woods “Rules Governing City Officials” available at http://www.bettertogetherstl.com/files/bettertogetherstl/Warson%20Woods%20Rules%20Governing%20City%20Officials.pdf
29. ↑ Kirkwood Combined Ordinances available at http://www.bettertogetherstl.com/files/bettertogetherstl/Kirkwood%20Combined%20Ordinances.pdf