Proposition P: Sales Tax Increase in St. Louis City to Fund CityArchRiver, Parks to Ask Voters for $1B

Tomorrow, Alderwoman Phyllis Young will introduce Board Bill No. 258 to the City of St. Louis Board of Aldermen. The bill calls for a 3/16 (0.1875%) sales tax increase in the City of St. Louis to support the CityArchRiver project, Great Rivers Greenway and city parks. If approved by the Board of Aldermen, Prop P would go to the city's voters on April 2, 2013. The board must approve the bill by January 22 for the measure to appear on the April ballot. Approval of similar bills are being sought in St. Louis County and St. Charles County. Two of the three would be required to pass before the tax increase would take affect. One of the two must be St. Louis County. It is estimated that the tax would generate $38M per year if passed in the City of St. Louis ($6.2M), St. Louis County ($24.9M) and St. Charles County ($7.2M).

The bill reads: PROPOSITION P: SAFE AND ACCESSIBLE ARCH AND PUBLIC PARKS INITIATIVE - For the purpose of increasing safety, security, and public accessibility for the Gateway Arch grounds and local, county and regional parks and trails for families and disabled and elderly visitors, and for providing expanded activities and improvements of such areas, shall the City of St. Louis join such other of the counties of St. Louis and St. Charles to impose a three-sixteenths of one cent sales tax in addition to the existing one-tenth of one cent sales tax applied to such purposes...