Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The Prop B increase will bring much-needed funds to the cash-strapped district.
With a solid 58 percent of the vote, Bayless School District residents approved the 92 cent Proposition B tax increase, which the district promises will bring back busses and help stave off cuts to classroom programs. 948 people voted ‘yes,’ and 686 voted ‘no.’ “We are very, very thrilled that Prop B passed. We wanted to make sure that our parents and community members knew what the passage would mean for the education of our kids, but also if it didn’t pass what it would mean,” incoming superintendent and current assistant super Ron Tucker told Patch Tuesday night. Prop B’s passage will increase taxes in for Bayless residents to $4.22 and bring an estimated $1,288,000 into district coffers, to be realized for the 2012-2013 school year. “…
The fire district will use the 26 cent increase to reduce the load on its overtaxed current ambulance.
The votes are in, and Affton residents came out to strongly support the Affton Fire Protection District’s Proposition A, a 26 cent property tax increase to pay for adding a second ambulance to the district. “It was a pretty big win,” said Affton Fire Captain Ben Waser, who helped organize the Yes on A campaign. Prop A passed with 2,433 ‘yes’ votes, about 62 percent of the total. Waser said Tuesday evening that voters he met at the polls were very positive about the tax increase. “The huge majority of people said ‘Yup, there’s a need, we support you,’” Waser said. “They were outwardly saying ‘we are 100 percent behind you.’” The tax increase will bring in $1.27 million in revenue, which Chief Jim Fritz said would be used to add an …
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
The Ward 2 alderman is racing for reelection today. His opponent is John Bub.
Ward 2 Alderman Ed Kopff has been on the board two years, and says he’d like to finish what he started. He’s referring, of course, to the stalled Kenrick Plaza redevelopment project and the contingent efforts to salvage Shrewsbury’s troubled financial prospects should the project not come together. The Walmart-anchored redevelopment plan has been the most contentious local issue in Shrewsbury in recent years, but Kopff stands behind it as the best option to bring in sales tax revenue to sustain the city’s dwindling coffers. “If this development doesn’t come through, what can we do to gain some time before we eat through all our reserves?” Kopff said in an interview, referencing Shrewsbury’s continuing budget deficit. “If we don’t address …
The Ward 2 resident is racing for election to the board of aldermen today. His opponent is Ed Kopff.
John Bub says his neighbors in the Villas at Kenrick asked him to run for Shrewsbury Board of Alderman in Ward 2. “I wanted to have a little better representation for people in my subdivision,” Bub said in an interview. An accountant with the US Postal Service, Bub has lived in Shrewsbury for two years with his wife Linda, who teaches business management classes at the college level. His main hobby when he isn’t busy running for election is tennis. “If I retired now, my office would switch to the asphalt court,” Bub joked. In running for office Bub said he wants greater input in the execution of the controversial Walmart-anchored Kenrick Plaza redevelopment project, particularly in how the development effects the neighborhood environment, …
Friday, March 30, 2012
Find out what will be on your ballot on Tuesday.
Tuesday is election day, and voters will once again be going to the polls to make democracy happen. Polling places will be open from 6 a.m. until 7 p.m. Find your polling place by entering your address here. Here's Patch's guide to the races with links to our coverage of the candidates. TWO TAX INCREASES ON THE BALLOT Prop A: The Affton Fire Protection District has a $0.26 tax increase on the ballot to pay for adding an ambulance to their fleet and hiring six new EMTs to staff it. The district says its current single ambulance has been increasingly overtaxed by the new senior centers moving into the area. Prop B: Bayless School District is asking district residents to support a $0.92 cent tax increase to dig them out of their dire …
Monday, March 19, 2012
A new website aims to rally voter support for the Bayless School District tax increase.
With the April 3 election just a few weeks away, supporters of Bayless’s Proprosition B are taking their campaign to the web. B for Bayless is a new website aiming to get out information about the need for the 92 cent tax increase the school board put on the ballot in January. The site contains pages laying out the case for the levy and the dire consequences the district predicts should the measure not pass. B for Bayless also has a Facebook page that has been posting information, such as tax rate and assessed valuation comparisons with other school districts. The page now has over 140 likes and is serving as a board for debate and cheering on of Prop B. “I would like to say that I did not approve of the tax increase when I first learned …
Friday, February 24, 2012
The district says its ambulance will be overtaxed by new senior centers.
If you thought you heard more sirens than usual in Affton this year, you weren’t wrong. Affton Fire Protection District officials say Affton’s growing population of seniors put their single ambulance to work an additional 300 EMS calls in 2011. It is this trend—likely to continue as yet more senior living centers open in the area—that prompted the district to put a tax increase on the April ballot for voter approval. The $0.26 tax levy would bring in an additional $1.27 million in revenue, which Chief Jim Fritz said would be used to add an additional ambulance to Affton Fire's fleet and hire six new staff to man it. “This isn’t for the firefighters to get a raise,” Captain Ben Waser said. “This is for something that is desperately needed …
Friday, February 17, 2012
Even if voters pass the Prop B tax increase, the district will still need to make significant cuts.
They call the three scenarios “the good, the bad and the ugly,” but all three will mean significant budget reductions next year for the Bayless School District. At Wednesday’s Bayless School Board meeting district officials discussed the cuts that would need to be made from the coming school year’s budget and the planned creation of budget reduction committees to find savings. The three scenarios discussed call for the district to reduce its budget deficit by $1 million, $1.25 million or $1.5 million respectively. The exact figure depends on the extent of cuts to state funding coming into the district, which in turn depends on action by the Missouri legislature. Also in play is the proposed 92 cent tax levy, which the district put on the …
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The district put the tax on the April 3 ballot in hopes of expanding ambulance services to deal with the increasing senior population.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Residential property taxes in the district are going up by 14 percent.
With property assessments dropping, the Bayless school district has raised its tax rate for next year to the tune of 14 percent on residential property. The Bayless school board approved the tax rate during a brief hearing and meeting last Wednesday. The tax rate submitted to the state auditor would raise property taxes $129 for the owner of a $150,000 home—from $935 in 2011 to $1,064 in 2012. The new residential tax rate of 3.7323 per $100 of assessed value is a 13.75 percent increase from the previous year’s 3.2812 tax rate. This tax rate is a combined rate of 3.2083 for school operating funds and 0.5240 to fund paying off the district’s debt. The debt service levy jumped 19 cents from last year—about 34 percent. This newest assessment …
Silence Dogood
8:13 am on Saturday, April 7, 2012
"Consolidation" is something that people love to say but do not understand. If two school districts merge, the both school districts pay the HIGHER tax rate. In the case of Bayless merging with Affton, the taxes of a Bayless residents would jump about $2.00. What is missed, is that when Affton would take on Bayless, they would be taking a "hit" on property assessments. That would require a … more ›