Say No to More Corporate Welfare for Anheuser-Busch

Last Updated 8:17 pm January 30, 2025

It’s not that a $85.55 Billion company like Anheuser-Busch needs corporate welfare. It just wants it.

For the third time in six years, I’m not digging back further, the Soulard based brewery since 1852, is asking for favors from the St. Louis City Board of Alders.

They are inclined to do so because they like the company’s lobbyists, the co-dependent unions , the campaign money. Good v. Bad public policy never enters the picture.

Board Bill 161, by Alder Cara Spencer, who is running for Mayor, gives the company
💰$41 Million in industrial revenue bonds for equipment purchase
💰10 years of 50% personal property tax abatement on the equipment and other
personal property

Per the Community Benefits Scorecard by St. Louis Development Corporation, the City’s corporate welfare umbrella agency, the brewery is located “in an area of high need and opportunity.” Soulard and adjacent Benton Park are affluent neighborhoods.

The company doesn’t need the help. It just wants it and feckless Alders will likely vote to give it to them, just like they always do for corporate welfare proposals.

The latest corporate welfare for the company will likely have its first vote at Board of Alders, the Perfection vote, on Friday, January 31st. Contact Board President Megan Green and your Alder and urge them to vote No on Board Bill 161.

The last meeting of the Board before Election break is currently February 7th.

Prior to the July 2008 InBev takeover of Anheuser-Busch, the brewery had 5,000 employees in the St. Louis area. By 2010, InBev had laid off thousands. A next door neighbor in Soulard was one of them. He was a third-generation brewery employee. Like his father and grandfather, he walked to work. Unlike them, he graduated from college and went to work for the brewery in a white-collar job. Our neighbor ended up moving to St. Charles for work.

In March 2019, Alders rewarded Anheuser-Busch with
💰$75 Million in industrial revenue bonds for equipment
💰 Two 5 years of 75%personal property tax abatement

The votes on Board Bill 177 are missing from the Board of Alders Votes on 2018-2019 bills. Sponsor of the bill was Alder Dan Guenther. He now works as Legislative Assistant to Alder Cara Spencer, candidate for Mayor.

In December 2019, Alders gave the company
💰$100 Million in industrial revenue bonds for, mostly, equipment purchase but also some real estate improvements
💰5 years of 50% real property tax abatement
💰5 years of 75% personal property tax abatement
💰Sales and Use Tax exemption on the purchase of construction materials

Sponsor of that bill was, again, Alder Guenther, who now works for Alder Spencer. The vote on Board Bill 155 was 22 Aye, 0 No, 5 Absent, 2 did not vote.

Alders still on the Board who voted for this 2019 corporate welfare: now Board President Megan Green, Pam Boyd, Brett Narayan, Cara Spencer, Tom Oldenburg, Joe Vollmer, Sharon Tyus.

Aside from Spencer running for higher office, none of these Alders is on the March or April ballot because it’s an odd numbered ward election and they represent even numbered wards or, in the case of Vollmer, not seeking re-election.

Aye votes no longer Alders but now working at the Board, in addition to Guenther: Marlene Davis, now Legislative Assistant to Alder Laura Keyes, and Christine Ingrassia, now Director of Operations for Board President Green.

Anheuser-Busch is located in Soulard but not a part of the neighborhood’s Special Business District (property tax funding private police and surveillance cameras) or Community Improvement District (sales tax for traffic calming, dog poo bags, trash pick-up…). Soulard CID recently sought inclusion of the brewery during its expansion petition drive but the brewery declined.

The company received a liquor license from the City for its Biergarten and now competes with Soulard and Benton Park bars and restaurants for customers. It contributes to neighborhood litter and safety issues but does not contribute to the neighborhood’s tax districts charged with providing additional services for such concerns.

In August 2024, Anheuser-Busch requested a $262,000 Missouri Sales Tax Refund.

In 2012, the City of Arnold and Jefferson County gave 20 years property tax abatement to Anheuser-Busch’s Metal Container Corp over objections by the local school district dependent on property taxes.

Anheuser-Busch doesn’t like paying taxes. But taxes pay for public services and it’s not the responsibility of everyone else to pick up the tab for public services used by a $85.55 Billion company

Tell Alders to make Anheuser-Busch pay their share.

Below: text of Gerry “Sunshine Gerry” Connolly’s letter to St. Louis City Board of Estimate and Apportionment (Mayor Tishaura Jones, Comptroller Darelene Green, Board President Megan Green) asking them to vote No on Board Bill 161. The Board of E&A voted 3-0 to support the corporate welfare.

Honorable Members of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment,

Request to vote NO on Board Bill 161. 1/29/25 Board of E and A meeting (agenda Item 2; bonds for Anheuser-Busch project)

Please vote no on Board Bill no. 161. The proposed incentive (Net Present Value = $1.19 Million fails the “but for” test. Anheuser-Busch simply doesn’t require the incentive to implement its project. At the HUDZ hearing on BB 161, Anheuser-Busch’s lobbyist constructed a flimsy narrative that A-B could select an existing A-B facility in another city for the project.

The procedure defined in Ordinance no. 71620 for SLPS to review the project was not properly documented in SLDC’s Developer Proposal Report (DPR) contained in BB 161. The DPR was not available to the public before the HUDZ Public Hearing; members of the HUDZ committee received the DPR via email from SLDC 13 minutes before the hearing started. The BOA has not been able to conduct robust due-diligence on BB 161.

A study cited by the Post-Dispatch estimated that a 30 second ad in the Superbowl costs $7M. The value of the tax break in BB 161 equates to 5 seconds of advertising time at the Superbowl.

Who loses out if BB 161 is approved? St. Louis Public Schools, the City of St. Louis (General Revenue) and multiple taxing districts.

Anheuser-Busch should pay its fair share in taxes, just like the majority of St. Louis residents and businesses.

I urge you to vote no on BB 161.

Thanks for your consideration.

Gerry Connolly

Will STL E&A, Tax Districts Go To AG Sunshine School?

Pleased to share that there has been a Transparency Win regarding St. Louis City’s Board of Estimate & Apportionment. On June 24th, E&A began publishing Exhibits with Agendas on City’s website.
——————–

An interesting development in enforcement of Missouri’s Sunshine Law happened last week in a city of 6,344 in southwest Missouri. It could impact government entities in St. Louis City, including the powerful Board of Estimate and Apportionment (E&A: Mayor, Comptroller, Board of Alders President).

The City of Willard has ben slapped on the wrist by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office and told they have to attend Sunshine School. At issue was the use of the generic Agenda topic “Unfinished Business” by Willard’s Board of Aldermen. (paywall) The AG’s Office says it should also include sub-topics detailing points of discussion.

That’s potentially huge because many St. Louis City special tax districts, agencies, and even the Board of E&A routinely use generic categories for Agendas.

As examples, Soulard Special Business District, a taxing district to fund private police and surveillance, and Soulard Community Improvement District, a taxing district to fund improvements with $1.8 Million dollars banked, both use skeleton agendas. They also have an atrocious record of posting late notices or wrong meeting location to the City’s online public meetings calendar.

The significance of E&A failing to provide specifics in their Agendas was highlighted recently when E&A approved more funding for the controversial ShotSpotter contract without public notice.

ShotSpotter is a surveillance product by SoundThinking. While cities have been turning down contract renewals and Chicago may soon dump the program, as promised by its mayor, St. Louis City’s E&A gave the contract a fourth amendment. And it was done, as is most E&A business, without the public notice.

For twenty years, it has been standard practice of E&A to post meeting notices and agendas to the City’s Public Meetings Calendar. The Agenda for the December 20, 2023 E&A Meeting, like most meetings, included:

“Request from the Comptroller’s Office for approval of contracts and leases for various
City departments as listed on Exhibit A.”

“Request from the Comptroller’s Office for approval of intradepartmental and
interdepartmental transfers from various City departments as listed on Exhibit B.”

“Request from the Comptroller’s Office for approval of transfers between projects for
Capital Improvement Funds listed on Exhibit C.”

But no Exhibits, the meat and potatoes of what they’re voting on, is available online for public inspection.

In the case of the December 20 Agenda, ShotSpotter was in Exhibit A, Item 17, hidden from the public. There was no opportunity for the public to contact E&A with concerns.

Item 17, Exhibit A, St. Louis Board of Estimate and Apportionment Agenda, December 20, 2023: ShotSpotter amendment

There was no debate on the ShotSpotter amendment. It was adopted on a 2-1 vote. Mayor Tishaura Jones and Comptroller Darlene Green voted yes; Board President Megan Green voted no.

No E&A Exhibits to Agendas or Meeting Minutes are posted online. How do we know the amendment happened and that the vote was? E&A meetings, usually very short, can be watched via Zoom or City’s YouTube channel.

Screenshot of Tweet by St. Louis Board of Alders President Megan Green regarding her vote against Shotspotter contract amendment

We can see from the YouTube video that Board President Green made a motion to separate ShotSpotter from the rest of the Agenda for the vote. She gave no reason why at the meeting. But, as the meeting ended, 7 minutes after starting, Green Tweeted about her vote against ShotSpotter. A graphic had been prepared in advance.

Why didn’t Green share the ShotSpotter Exhibit item with the public, Privacy Watch STL coalition, etc. before the meeting? That’s a good question.

The next meeting of E&A is 3 pm Wednesday, January 17th. Exhibits A, B, C missing. Again. The secret business is anyone’s guess.

People also Sunshine E&A Exhibits.

“Sunshine Gerry” Connolly usually makes a request as soon as the E&A Agenda is posted online. It can take a day to a month for the documents to show up in the City’s Sunshine Portal.

Screenshot of error message from St. Louis City Sunshine Portal, Public Records Archives

Public access to the Portal’s Public Records Archives is limited to when it is functioning, which is often not the case. It’s been down most of today while I’ve been trying to write this. You have to be persistent when filing a Sunshine request. Try in the morning. Try again in the afternoon. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Big question is why aren’t E&A Exhibits posted with the Agendas? Why the secrecy?

Maybe it’s time for the AG to look at how government entities in St. Louis City comply (or don’t) with Missouri’s Sunshine Law.

It’s definitely time for St. Louis City to have a strong municipal Sunshine Law in the Charter (via amendment by Charter Commission or otherwise) or via ordinance by Board of Alders.

Soulard Taxation Without Representation

There’s a 6:30 pm Tonight Soulard Special Business District Board Meeting at Soulard Station, 1911 S 12th.

Soulard SBD is the property tax district, for part of the Soulard neighborhood, that funds privatized policing, off duty police via TCF, and so-called security cameras.

This is also the tax district that held the extra super #TransparencyFail meeting last month. Not giving proper notice of meetings is just one of many problems with the Board.

Over 70% of Soulard residents are renters who pay property taxes via their monthly rent. Tonight’s meeting will be conducted without a required residential renter Board member. It’s companion sales district district- Soulard Community Improvement District– requires all Board members to be property owners.

The previous residential renter Board member was Molly Dougherty. In March 2021, She bought a home in Soulard but was allowed to remain on the Board repping renters. She now serves as a homeowner Board member. Dougherty is a landlord attorney at Sandberg Phoenix and serves as treasurer for 7th Ward Alder Jack Coatar’s campaign committee for St. Louis City Board President. Coatar served on the Board before he was elected Alder.

The due diligence made by Soulard SBD Board to fill the residential renter Board seat is found in the July 2021 Minutes. They posted a notice in the St. Louis Daily Record, a subscription service for legal notices, a publication read by likely less than a dozen residential renters in Soulard.

Additional transparency issues with Soulard SBD:

They post skeleton, generic agendas with meeting notices on their website and a year in advance to City’s Public Meeting Calendar. And, as happened with the last meeting and a number of other times, they change meeting times, dates, places but never update the City Calendar notice.
They are always behind posting Meeting Minutes. July 2022 are the latest Minutes posted. You regularly see “forgot to approve Minutes” in Minutes.
There’s no Budget or anything resembling Financials posted to the District’s website, only a 2016 pie chart.

These special tax districts represent the worst of government- poorly run private clubs providing inefficient parochial responses to citywide concerns. Instead of stopping this trainwreck, Alders continue to rubberstamp creation of new ones. As the 2023 elections for Alders and Board President approach, who will run on a platform of getting rid of special tax districts?

Further Reading

St. Louis’ Private Police Forces Make Security a Luxury of the Rich by Jeremy Kohler, ProPublica, September 8, 2022

A Private Policing Company in St. Louis Is Staffed With Top Police Department Officers by Jeremy Kohler, ProPublica, September 9, 2022

Monday Meeting of Soulard Tax Board for Private Police

UPDATE: Sometime after 8 am Monday, September 12th, Soulard Special Business District posted a notice to its website for the 6:30 pm Monday, September 12th Soulard SBD Meeting, less than seven hours notice for a public meeting on public tax money. That Notice says the meeting has been moved to Molly’s, a venue owned by Soulard SBD Chair Luke Reynolds (also Vice Chair of Soulard Community Improvement District, sales tax district). As of 10:30 am Monday, September 12th, the meeting Notice on City’s Public Meetings Calendar had not been changed to reflect a different meeting place. That notice says the meeting is at Soulard Station. Notices and edits to City Public Meetings Calendar get time-date identification. Notices on most special tax district websites only get a date first posted.

Original blog post below.

Or not.

Soulard Special Business District is one of St. Louis City’s special tax districts that fund private policing and part of last week’s two part investigative report by Jeremy Kohler for ProPublica.

We know that as a part of their response to the ProPublica investigation, Soulard SBD’s Board voted in November 2021 to hire Husch Blackwell as legal counsel for $5,000 “to ensure the Board complies with an ongoing Sunshine request and fully complies with the Sunshine Act.”

We know that before Jack Coatar was elected to the St. Louis City Board of Alderpeople, he served on the Soulard SBD. In May 2022, as Alder, he gave the welcome and introductions at Soulard SBD Neighborhood Safety Forum. Secretary of the Soulard SBD Board is Molly Doughtery, also Treasurer of Coatar’s campaign finance committee. Coatar is on Tuesday’s special election ballot to fill the vacancy caused by resignation of Board of Alderpeople President Lewis Reed, a friend of Coatar’s.

We know there’s a meeting notice for Soulard SBD on the City of St. Louis Public Meetings Calendar. We also know that a year’s worth of meeting notices and generic skeleton agenda’s were posted by the SBD Board to the City Calendar on Dec 7, 2021.

We also know that as of 5 pm Sunday, there was no notice for a September Soulard SBD meeting on the SBD’s website.

It doesn’t matter whether they’re having a public meeting without a notice on their website or failed to cancel the meeting notice on City website. It doesn’t matter whether they don’t want questions relating to the ProPublica investigative reports or Coatar’s involvement in tax districts before Tuesday’s election. It’s all Transparency Fail.

The Soulard SBD Budget includes $18,000 for Communications Management, $50,000 for Advertising/Promotion, $25,000 for Communications, $50,000 for Marketing/Branding. You would think that one of those line items includes competent online posting of public meetings notices at both their website and the City Public Meetings Calendar.