Cottleville makes second attempt to pass CID for Old Town
By: Mary Ann O’Toole Holley - Mid Rivers News
Residents of the city of Cottleville had an opportunity to cast mail-in ballots due by May 5, voting for or against the city’s proposed Community Improvement District (CID). Some residents wondered why the issue was not voted upon on the April 7 Ballot.
The reason: City Administrator Scott Lewis said those eligible to vote on the issue must live within the CID boundaries. “It is not something all of the voters in the city vote for,” Lewis said. “It’s just voted upon by those in the boundaries. We wanted to do the election earlier but because of the April election, St. Charles County Election Commissioner Rich Chrismer set the May 5 mail-in voting date. “We sent him the boundaries of the district and provided the addresses of the property owners, and he pulled those registered voters and mailed the ballot with the return postage paid envelope,” Lewis said.
The ballot allows voters to decide an initiative to impose Community Improvement District-wide sales and use tax at a rate of 1 percent for a period of not more than 40 years. Named “The Old Town Cottleville Community Improvement District (CID),” it includes residents of Madison Park and Harmony Ridge subdivisions and other non-residential areas from Cottleville’s Old Town to Weiss Road and along the commercial area of Cottleville Parkway.
This same proposal was voted down in the regular election by just six votes, Lewis said. The CID Board met Jan. 28, to discuss how to proceed with the failing vote, and decided that because it lost by such a small margin it would be pursued when the Election Commissioner allowed.
“Over a year ago property owners signed a petition initiating a vote for a CID for the old town area,” Lewis said. “The CID is asking for authorization to impose up to a 1 cent sales tax, however, the CID Board will determine later how much funding will be needed based on community projects. It’s possible that it would be done incrementally at less than 1 cent, but the voters will be allowed to vote on increasing sales tax of up to 1 cent.”
Lewis said public meetings were held to explain the project, but it had been a year since the first ballots came out. The voter turnout was very low even though it was a postage paid return mail ballot. “We were surprised it failed because there was no opposition during the petition process (the first time),” Lewis said. “The petition was signed by property owners. The city got more than 50 percent of the required voters’ signatures to initiate the vote.” Lewis said that what’s a bit different on this ballot issue than most is that it has registered voters included in the area that will benefit from the CID. Those living within the subdivisions would benefit from the projects.
Some of the projects had already been started, such as the Podhorn Memorial Trail, which was funded with the help of an $81,000 state grant awarded two years ago through the federal Recreational Trails Program. Cottleville was chosen among 61 applicants, but as part of the agreement must provide matching funds. The CID would support that funding, Lewis said.
Other projects that would offset city spending if the CID passes will be the pedestrian signal at the intersection of Cottleville Parkway and Weiss Road, and numerous other projects like upgrading the landscaping down Cottleville Parkway, moving forward with the trail to connect Warren Elementary to the new city park. “We are trying to use the CID money to leverage it for more trail grants and safe routes to school grants,” Lewis said. “The match was to be made with the CID funds, but because the tax failed, the city had to come up with the money.”
Community gardens are planned for Vantage Park, and although the city already has a grant for parking and lighting, the CID would build on that main project and bring it to some of the side streets. A parking lot was slated for the post office area, and improvements were to be made to side streets.
Passing of the CID would mean those debts would be paid through sales tax revenue rather than taxpayer funds.
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