CityPark will soon charge one percentage point more in sales tax. That means all stadium and parking purchases will be taxed at 12.7%. The St. Louis Port Authority Commission unanimously approved the increase on Thursday morning.
St. Louis City SC officials plan to use the money to compensate for an ongoing $23 million repair that began four years ago. During construction of the soccer stadium, a contaminated spring was uncovered underneath the north side of the site.
“This was a spring that was kind of a latent defect. It's just like any other spring, just connects them to the water table and keeps pouring out water,” said Matt McBride, chairman of the St. Louis Port Authority Commission. “This just happens to be contaminated water because all the karst springs underneath the city proper are contaminated.”
The spring releases more than 100,000 gallons of contaminated water daily. The pollution comes from fuel tanks abandoned decades ago beneath the city. Under Metropolitan Sewer District regulations, the soccer club is required to treat the water before dumping it.
“The water gets pumped out, remediated, cleaned and then goes into the main MSD sewer system,” said Jason Thein, chief operating officer for St. Louis City SC. “We are literally cleaning millions of gallons of water a year.”
The increase will last a maximum of 40 years. Until then, soccer fans will pay the new tax on top of previously established ones. A 2% special tax pays for various improvements in the 22,500-seat stadium.
This change is an “intermediate step” toward establishing the Market Street property as part of a port improvement district, said Susan Taylor, port director for the St. Louis Port Authority.
Upon the district's finalization, St. Louis City SC is limited to $12 million in recovery.
“The team is still coming out of pocket for a significant amount,” said Mark Spykerman, legal counsel for the Port Authority.
The petition will be filed with the circuit court and followed by an election. Property owners within the district will elect PID board members who will impose the 1% sales tax. Any property owner within or sharing a boundary with the district will have the right to object.
“They really have no interest because we're not evading or touching any of their taxes, but we will serve everyone from the school district to the library,” Spykerman said.
