At the end of last month, Better Together, a not-for-profit group aimed at combining St Louis City and St Louis County into one big “Metro City”, released their plan for doing so. To say this is a hot topic among residents of those two areas would be an understatement.
Proponents of the plan say it will make St Louis the 9th largest city in the U.S., will streamline government, dilute the city crime stats making them appear to be better and, in the end, lead to increased economic development and growth for the region.
Opponents, such as the Municipal League of Metro St Louis argue that their (Better Together) plan is unconstitutional (hence why the Missouri Constitution must be changed to permit it) and that “the great divorce”, the label applied to when the city of St Louis separated from St Louis County back in 1876 was done using the Board of Freeholders, so if the two want to get back together, the same approach should be done to accomplish it (Board of Freeholders). Additionally, the opponents argue that allowing the entire state to decide the fate of the people of these two counties is wrong, that historic cities (such as Florissant and Kirkwood) will be disbanded and, in the end, the underlying problems that hinder growth here won’t’ really be addressed.
The proceeding is, of course, my very brief synopsis of the two views as I see them so I would suggest you research the matter for yourself and have included some resources below to do just that.
- Better Together City-County Unification Plan
- Report on Governance Issues in the Better Together Plan by E. Terrence (Terry) Jones, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Public Policy Administration at the University of Missouri at St Louis.
- Riverfront Times Article on the Better Together Plan
What the Better Together Plan means for St Louis home prices.
Interestingly enough, the same “post-consolidation” math that makes St Louis the “9th Largest City” in the U.S. and slashes the crime rate for St Louis, does some strange things to home prices as well. For example, as the chart below shows, the median price of homes sold in St Louis County last year was $200,000. However, after combining the City of St Louis with the county, St Louis County’s median home price for 2018 will show a decline of 7 percent to $186,000 due to the lower prices in the city. On the other side of the coin, the median home price for homes sold in the City of St Louis during 2018 was $151,250 but, after the city and county are combined, will show an increase in home prices in the city of St Louis 23 percent to $186,000. Granted, this doesn’t really mean anything as it is just a math problem and a result of merging the two markets into one on paper, although, it could cause some confusion, or even concern when people look at home prices in the region.
As I conclude this article, it just hit me how one could argue that my comment, “this doesn’t really mean anything as it is just a math problem and a result of merging the two markets into one on paper”, could be applied to the city size and crime stats math as well. Hmm…
In any event, I’ll be digging into this deeper and writing more on it in the future.
St Louis City & County vs St Louis Metro City Home Prices
