Disincorporation Nation and the Sage of Saint George

Say the title line like you’re Casey Kasem introducing a one-hit wonder disco group from the 1970s.

Saint George is moving ahead with the disincorporation proposal. After a series of scandals in this small, south Saint Louis County speed trap with a city (like Prussia’s historic description as an army with a country), enough of the residents are fed-up that they are thinking about getting rid of the entire city.

At a meeting the other day about the subject, county officials discussed how the county would be able to provide services within Saint George if the city disincorporated. How would the county be able to do that without having to raise taxes on everyone? Part of the answer is the sales tax pool. Saint George receives $225,917 per year from the pool. If it disincorporates, all that money will go back into the pool, and a good portion of it would go to Saint Louis County government. That would be new revenue for the county that would allow it to provide services to Saint George without any need for a tax increase.

I wish the residents luck as they begin this process. City services in Saint George have long been funded by the writing of speeding tickets for other residents of south county. (According to Wikipedia, 28 percent of the city’s budget comes from traffic fines.) Places that provide government services to a small number of people by abusing the legal system like this probably should not exist in the first place. Saint Louis County will be fully capable of providing the services that the city residents need.