Politics & Government

County Officials Talk Disincorporation in St. George

A town hall was held to answer residents' questions about the process and effects of dissolving the small city.

In a packed meeting room at the , officials from St. George and from St. Louis County took questions from residents both interested and concerned about what the proposed disincorporation would mean for the tiny city.

The main thrust of the evening was a presentation by county Chief Operating Officer Garry Earls, who provided comparisons of services and tax rates in St. George and in unincorporated St. Louis County. With him were County Police Chief Tim Fitch and a slew of county department heads.

Midway through the evening Earls was joined by County Executive Charlie Dooley, who had previously been attending the Bayless School District Recognition Night.

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“I think it went well. I think we achieved what we set out to do,” Earls said after the meeting adjourned. He stressed that the county was just here to inform, and that residents had to make the best choice for them.

“I thought it was helpful,” said Ann Todd, a St. George resident at the meeting.

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There has been a great deal of confusion and misinformation about the pros and cons of disincorporation since new mayor Carmen Wilkerson began promoting the idea earlier this year in a .

One particular issue of confusion has concerned the streets that run through the Southridge Condominiums, which were dedicated to St. George in the early 1980s. Earls assured residents that these streets would remain publicly maintained roads after disincorporation.

Earls also laid out the tax differences between St. George and unincorporated county. If the city dissolved residents would see their utility taxes go up, but they would no longer be paying municipal property taxes. Overall Earls estimated that a resident in a single-family home with an appraised value of $140,000 would pay, depending on utilities usage, $241 a year in municipal fees and taxes in St. George or $248 as part of unincorporated county.

“The pricetag for being a part of unincorporated county is about neutral, depending on their property values and utilities usage,” Earls said in an earlier interview.

The fate of the city’s small park is still ambiguous. Earls said that if the city were disincorporated, the park—and other city properties such as the house that serves as town hall—would be turned over to a trustee who would either sell it to settle the city’s bills or work to turn the park over to the county. Earls added that the county would likely welcome an additional park in South County.

County police, who are currently contracted for nine 10-minute patrols through St. George each day, said that St. George residents could expect a greater level of the same quality of service as a part of unincorporated county.

“Rather than getting 90 minutes a day, they would be part of a beat that is covered 24 hours a day,” Captain Mike Dierkes of the Affton Precinct said in an earlier interview. “They would probably get more.”

The disincorporation process is not easy. A petition circulated through the community must be signed by 50 percent of the city’s registered voters. Once the petition is verified by the county elections commission, the county will hold an election in the community. If the disincorporation measure passes with 60 percent of the vote, the county will officially disincorporate the city. After that the city and the county would work together to wind down the business of the municipality: settle contracts, collect assets, deal with outstanding legal matters.

The first step in this process, which will likely take at least a year, is to clean up the voter registry and begin circulating the petition among what remains of the city’s 850 registered voters.

To help with this, the board of aldermen is expected to consider the appointment of a Disincorporation Exploratory Committee at its monthly meeting Monday night. Already signed up for the committee are Bob Burns (husband of alderman Dianne Burns and former McCaskill staffer), Brian Wilkerson (husband of mayor Carmen Wilkerson), Rick Zoellner, Dave Eding, Terri Soloman and Connie Reifsteck of the Southridge condos.

The next meeting of the St. George Board of Aldermen will be 7 p.m. Monday at the city’s . The agenda will be posted this weekend on the city’s revamped website, http://stgeorgemo.com.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the disincorporation measure must also be passed by the St. George board of aldermen. This is not the case.


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