Court invalidates St. Louis CID

A St. Louis circuit court judge has invalidated action by the Downtown St. Louis Partnership Inc., a community improvement district, for acting outside its power.

Judge Julian L. Bush, of the 22nd Judicial Circuit in the city of St. Louis, ruled in June that the CID wasn't officially in existence on Sept. 9, 1999, when it imposed a levy similar to the one imposed by Springfield's downtown CID.

However, in the St. Louis case, the CID was officially created by resolution of the city government Jan. 1, 2000, five months after collections began. The judge ordered defendant Ronald A. Leggett, collector of revenue, to refund each of the plaintiff's all of the money they had paid under protest plus interest.

The plaintiffs were the Missouri Athletic Club, Missouri Athletic Club Redevelopment Corporation, Boat-men's Trust Company, Phyllis Prater and Eleonore Nelson.

In his ruling, the judge said the CID had actually imposed a tax, not a special assessment, because there was nothing in the resolution which created the levy that restricts the use of the monies.

According to case law, a "special assessment" must be defined by how the money is to be used. A "tax" goes into the general revenue to be used however a governing body wishes to use it.

The judge ruled that the St. Louis assessment was a tax, and because the CID was set up as a corporation, not a political subdivision like Springfield's downtown CID, it operated outside its authority.