Chesterfield to become part of St. Charles County? (St. Louis, Florissant: sales, 2014)

[BubbyBobble]

CHESTERFIELD, Mo. (KSDK) - Chesterfield Mayor Bob Nation sent shock waves through the valley when he threatened to have his city take steps to secede St. Louis County and join St. Charles County.

He feels Chesterfield is getting a raw deal because it's turning over too much sales revenue to St. Louis County.

The city of Chesterfield is now considered an economic engine. Especially since the city has two new outlet malls. Nation says Chesterfield is projecting 14.5M in sales tax revenue. However, he says with the way the sales tax revenue is set up, the city will only keep 6.4M.

St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley says the idea of Chesterfield seceding from the county is unacceptable.

"I think it's a little bit over the top. I think Chesterfield is a part of St. Louis County. If we have some issues with St. Louis County we need to discuss them in an intelligent way. We're open to dialogue. We're willing to do that," he said.

We asked him about a possible redistribution of the sales tax revenue. He says the county is open to further discussions.

Link to the article

Interdasting. Chesterfield wants to keep more of it's money, but it's undeniably supported by people outside of the Chesterfield area. Yet, the city has taken smart steps to keep it's economy bustling. What do you guys think?

[FrankMiller]

That seems pretty short-sighted. What happens to Chesterfield when a new outlet mall gets built down the road, and sales tax revenue plummits? The region is already pummeled by businesses playing municipalities against each other and racing to the bottom on sales taxes, and this would just be an extension of that phenomenon.

If every person or city who feels they're over-contributing to the neighborhood secedes, society basically collapses. In the long run, a winner-takes-all mentality isn't good for anybody.

[BubbyBobble]

Originally Posted by FrankMiller

That seems pretty short-sighted. What happens to Chesterfield when a new outlet mall gets built down the road, and sales tax revenue plummits? The region is already pummeled by businesses playing municipalities against each other and racing to the bottom on sales taxes, and this would just be an extension of that phenomenon.

If every person or city who feels they're over-contributing to the neighborhood secedes, society basically collapses. In the long run, a winner-takes-all mentality isn't good for anybody.

I completely agree with you. I think that's the biggest problem with St. Louis is that it's like area's are overtly competitive with each other in terms of individual gain.

I hope that this does not go through. Not to mention man customer's will be turned off by this mentality.

[BubbyBobble]

This is another article that brings up some good points.

[Dawn10am]

I just got to thinking about it, and I can honestly say that I have never spent a single dollar in the city of Chesterfield. And I don't plan to.

[BubbyBobble]

Originally Posted by Dawn10am

I just got to thinking about it, and I can honestly say that I have never spent a single dollar in the city of Chesterfield. And I don't plan to.

I have quiet a bit. I got to RedHots a lot, and go to various places in the Valley. Even though it's been greatly reduced thanks to developments on Manchester Road and Brentwood. In fact, many of the shoppes in the valley are actually smaller than in it's sibiling cities. Manchester has a bigger Walmart and Sam's Club. Florissant's Gamestop and Toys R Us are bigger. The Target in Brentwood is vastly superior, design wise. The Starbucks on Olive (both locations) are bigger. The biggest problem I see in Chesterfield is that many of the stores are "anchored" via strip malls.

The cities that are building newer stores are building many stand alone stores and I can see that being the downfall of Chesterfield.

[OuttaTheLouBurbs]

Unfortunately, the mayor of Chesterfield (along with those of many St. Charles municipalities as well) refuses to recognize that we are all on the same boat. We ride and sink with one another. You can't break away and do your own thing, especially when your growth has been on the back of a population exodus from the city and inner burbs. You're part of the community, you do your part. Otherwise, you can leave and you can lose all of the benefits from being an active part of the St. Louis area. Imagine, if St. Louis City and County residents stopped shopping in Chesterfield tomorrow, and all Chesterfield residents were denied access to city and county amenities, how long would they last? Would people want to live there? Of course not, they have nothing unique to offer other than living space.

Also, I don't think Chesterfield will be too keen on having left the county once all their shiny new houses have reached 20 years of age and have been abandoned for the next set of shiny new houses somewhere else in the metro area. Their sprawl has nothing to offer in the long run, the only thing the new houses offer now is large space at a cheap price. When cheaper and larger houses go up somewhere else, what happens then?

[BubbyBobble]

Originally Posted by OuttaTheLouBurbs

Unfortunately, the mayor of Chesterfield (along with those of many St. Charles municipalities as well) refuses to recognize that we are all on the same boat. We ride and sink with one another. You can't break away and do your own thing, especially when your growth has been on the back of a population exodus from the city and inner burbs. You're part of the community, you do your part. Otherwise, you can leave and you can lose all of the benefits from being an active part of the St. Louis area. Imagine, if St. Louis City and County residents stopped shopping in Chesterfield tomorrow, and all Chesterfield residents were denied access to city and county amenities, how long would they last? Would people want to live there? Of course not, they have nothing unique to offer other than living space.

Also, I don't think Chesterfield will be too keen on having left the county once all their shiny new houses have reached 20 years of age and have been abandoned for the next set of shiny new houses somewhere else in the metro area. Their sprawl has nothing to offer in the long run, the only thing the new houses offer now is large space at a cheap price. When cheaper and larger houses go up somewhere else, what happens then?

Exactly. Chesterfield will soon be old, and unless it can keep the charm a la Ladue/Clayton they will certain run into problems with no means of support.

[Weaubleau]

Wow, you guys in St. Louis ( or at least some of you ) are taking a page out of KC's playbook, unfortunately it is the equivalent of the fullback dive into the line play that nets zero yards most of the time. You would think that Chesterfield and St. Louis were in different states that used to be at war with each other. It is ALWAYS ALWAYS the case that the metro area is stronger when it works together and is not at cross purposes with each other.

[Hector2]

The parameters and rules about the county sales tax pool have been readjusted a bunch of times to deal with changing circumstances. There has been talk in the last few years of adjusting them again. I'm sure the mayor's talk about seceding is mostly a bargaining ploy, albeit one that does Chesterfield's image in the region no favors. It sounds shocking, so it gets headlines.