On Tuesday, November 3, Creve Coeur residents voted to approve Proposition C, a parks and stormwater sales tax to provide funding for local parks and stormwater control in Creve Coeur. The ballot read as follows: 

November 3, 2020, ballot:
Shall the City of Creve Coeur impose a sales tax of one-half of one percent for the purpose of providing funding for local parks and stormwater control for the City of Creve Coeur?
Yes _______      No _______

The half-cent sales tax will take effect on April 1, 2021, and all revenue will be put into a special fund dedicated to providing funding for improving and maintaining local parks and stormwater infrastructure.

Parks and stormwater improvement projects have been historically underfunded, as most capital improvement dollars go toward street repair and replacement, or emergency storm drainage repairs. With the new revenue provided by the parks and stormwater sales tax, the City will have additional funding available for maintaining and improving parks and stormwater infrastructure on the schedule and magnitude envisioned by the City’s respective master plans.

Three citizen-led committees—the Parks & Historic Preservation Committee, Stormwater Committee and Finance Committee—recommended placing this measure on the November ballot. Throughout September and October, Dave McCoy, chair of the Parks & Historic Preservation Committee, and Richard Koch, former chair and current member of the Stormwater Committee, hosted a series of virtual town halls encouraging citizens to educate themselves on this important ballot measure.

The Creve Coeur City Council will work closely with the Parks & Historic Preservation Committee and the Stormwater Committee in the coming months to establish the top priorities for improvement projects, which will include new park amenities, walking trails, and healthier and more resilient streams. The first projects made possible by this new revenue source will be under construction in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2021.