the Last Words of Dwight Eisenhower
1 day ago
A place for University City Conservatives to meet.
Opponents of a quarter-cent local sales tax for municipal operations plan this weekend to start circulating petitions for a state audit of the city. Voters will consider the tax Aug. 4.
1] You are unlawfully spending public funds to support the passage of Proposition S.
2] The brochure does not identify who paid for it, as required by law for any "printed matter relative to any candidate for public office or any ballot measure." There are no exceptions.
3] The City has apparently violated provisions of the Campaign Finance Disclosure Law, Chapter 130, RSMo, having to do with reporting of expenditures made to promote the passage of the proposal.
I would urge you to get an opinion from your city attorney on the legality of the brochure. Should he claim it is legal, then the next step will be going to St. Louis County Circuit Court to get a restraining order. I also believe criminal issues can be raised surrounding these unlawful expenditures.
There have been some real problems with the budget in University City. The City Manager, Julie Feier proposed, and and 4 members of the City Council (Wards 1 and 3) voted to pass a budget that is $1.3M in deficit. In order to offset this deficit they are taking and additional $60,000 from the Economic Redevelopment Retail Sales Tax Fund and moving that to the General Fund, AND they are counting on a sales tax increase of 0.25%, raising our sales tax rate to the highest in the metro St. Louis Area - they are counting on the taxes before even bringing the idea to a public vote! There has been not notification of Prop. S, though they are planning to send out a flier. August is typically a time when people are out of town on vacation, and so they are hoping that only those who know and support Prop. S will show up to the polls to vote.