Sunday Poll: Support or Oppose a Regional Sales Tax for the St. Louis Zoo?
In the news last month was the idea of a 5-county sales tax to support the St. Louis Zoo:
The chief executive of the St. Louis Zoo says a regional sales tax is the right way — and perhaps the only way — to preserve the zoo and its animals for years to come.
President Jeffrey Bonner, in an impassioned argument for a five-county sales tax, said the zoo needs money to repair sewers, roofs and animal exhibits on its 100-year-old Forest Park campus. And it can’t consider operating a proposed 300- to 400-acre conservation breeding site without the new tax.
An admission fee is not the answer, Bonner said. Charging nonresidents for entry would create long lines, discourage attendance, reduce visitor spending and cost the zoo an estimated $50 million in turnstiles, ticket booths and the like. (Post-Dispatch)
The tax, if passed, would be collected on sales in the following counties: Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles, St. Louis, and the independent City of St. Louis. Currently, the Zoo receives about $20 million annual from a property tax in St. Louis city & county.
This is the subject of today’s poll:
The poll is open until 8pm.
— Steve Patterson
I can’t fathom saddling StL city and county taxpayers with yet another, completely separate tax to support the zoo. If adjacent counties don’t want to join the ZMD and would like to vote themselves a sales tax for the zoo, then that’s their choice.