Historical November–December 2016 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
I went into the neighborhood Special Business District Assessment Meeting as a SBD advocate and left an opponent.
I was expecting to hear why we needed SBD funds. Instead I heard about other neighborhoods that had implemented SBDs and saw a financial model that minimized the costs to individual residents while emphasizing the total revenue it would generate for the neighborhood.
This greatly surprised me.
I was a SDCC Board member when the SBD was first brought up. At that there was a clear and compelling need for revenue.
We had just found out that our CDA grant was in jeopardy. At its peak this grant provided in excess of $40,000, amounting to about 1/3 or the council’s total operating budget.
This loss of funds led the SDCC Board and its professional staff to explore the SBD.
I remember going line by line through the budget and looking at every fundraising event and campaign.
We saw that all fundraising activities combined contributed less than half of what CDA provided.
We concluded that the lost CDA funds could not be replaced by neighborhood fundraising.
We also considered approaching our institutional sponsors and came to the conclusion that it was either impossible or imprudent to look to them cover our annual shortfall.
Another option would have been to eliminate our professional staff and move their work to volunteers. One only has to look at the quantity and quality of staff work to realize how much the council and the neighbors would lose. Examples of this included; physical presence of staff during working hours, planning, organizing and overseeing events, liaising with, police, fire, elected officials, city and state agencies.
We also came to appreciate the need for professional experience when working with our partners like Washington University, the City of St. Louis, the State of Missouri, and Metro and outside commercial entities that have a financial interest in projects in or near our neighborhood.
The loss of high quality professional staff would have greatly diminished the effectiveness of the council in the short term and put us on a path for the slow demise of the organization over time.
The council looked at a many options.
In the end the SBD appeared to be the only viable alternative.
The board realized that an SBD could potentially raise more funds than needed to simply replace the lost CDA funds.
There were discussions among members. SBD funding presented a tradeoff. Using the SBD to raise significantly more money than was needed to meet the funding gap would empower the us to take on projects without the need for city state and/or other funding sources.
It would also increase the cost of living in our neighborhood (either directly through higher property taxes or indirectly through higher rents).
This in turn would add to gentrification that threatens the economic diversity that we all value. At the time I ended my involvement the board and staff seemed to be proceeding along the following lines: • Clearly articulate the value of the council and the need for maintaining a sustainable level of funding to our fellow neighbors • Carefully explain how the board had come to believe that the SBD was the best means to meet this need • Solicit the support of the neighbors Obviously things have changed.
The SBD Meeting presented no clear need for funding. Instead we heard about how much money the SBD could raise for projects “yet to be determined”. For me the choice is clear.
If the neighborhood needs funding to support the work of the council and its professional staff then I am fully in favor of the SBD.
I will work tirelessly to support its passage and gladly pay my assessment.
If not I will oppose the SBD and vote against the issue should it make the ballot.
I challenge the SDCC to take the lead.
If SBD funds are needed then the SDCC board should present the neighbors with a line item budget clearly stating where the shortfall is and how it will be addressed.
If there is no clear need for funds the council should abandon the idea of a SBD. Respectfully, John “Hitch” Powell
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, November–December 2016.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2016_11.pdf, printed page(s) 2; PDF page(s) 2.
