I am posting the written testimony submitted by Gerry Connolly to St. Louis City Board of Alders Housing and Urban Development Committee on Board Bill 19 to create two single-site tax districts for luxury living Jefferson Arms, a Community Improvement District and Transportation Development District.

Gerry is right about both the Board make up of these tax districts and the need for tax district reforms, which former Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway also recommended in 2019.

In the 2024-25 Board of Alders session, a special committee was created to look into special tax districts, but nothing came of it. The committee was not even renewed for the 2025-26 session.

If you’re on Bluesky, search #TransparencyFail. Most of the posts are about St. Louis City Special Tax Districts (or Local Tax Districts (LTDs) if you’d prefer not to use STDs).

Also check out the ProPublica series: “Policing in St. Louis. Private Policing Firms Patrol Wealthy Neighborhoods” about neighborhood tax districts.

Gerry’s testimony

“Please consider this recommendation to amend Board Bill 19 as follows: change the composition of the boards to ensure that representatives of the developer of property in the Jefferson Arms CID/TDD do not constitute a majority of the board. Officials representing City of St. Louis government should make up a majority of seats on the board. 

BB 19 specifies the CID shall have five board members, the City of St. Louis should therefore have three representatives on the board. 

I have included below an except from my written testimony on the FY 2026 Budget/Operating Plan which outlines eight recommendations to reform the Local Taxing Districts in the City of St.Louis.

• Budget testimony item 7: Eight reforms for the BOA to enact for Local Taxing Districts (LTDs) It is possible that changes to Missouri law will be necessary in order to accomplish some of the recommendations. The budgets of the 100 plus LTDs in the City likely exceed $50 Million, with taxes and/or special assessments imposed on the public. The vast majority of LTDs operate routinely in violation of Missouri Sunshine law.

1. Enact all recommendations of the 2019 Missouri Auditor’s report on LTDs. The audit report is available online (See pages 9 – 18 for recommendations)
2. Place all policing duties funded by LTDs under the command of SLMPD.
3. Extend community oversight of surveillance technology to all LTDs.
4. A representative of the following must be appointed to the board of all single-site LTDs: Mayor, Board of Aldermen and Comptroller.
5. Prohibit developers from controlling single-site districts.
6. Document all City of St. Louis resources allocated to the LTDs. Such resources include: (i) City funds expended on projects of the LTDs. (ii) city staff attending LTD meetings. (iii) work performed by city staff to support the activities of LTDs. (Examples of city staff: SLMPD personnel when working for the City; Neighborhood Improvement Specialists).
7. Establish robust Conflicts of Interest regulations for people serving on the boards and committees of LTDs.
8. Establish a limit on the number of LTD boards on which one person can serve. (Some individuals serve on at least five LTD boards)”