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Thank you for taking the time to visit this site to examine the factual documents and news/commentary to determine for yourself the truth behind incorporation. This site began as a response to two incorporation (city) initiatives that were proposed in High Ridge beginning in 2007. One was sponsored by the group Citizens for the Future of High Ridge and the other by the group Sugar Creek Hills Working to be a City Committee. At the time, there was much confusion and misinformation surrounding the initiatives with regard to soliciting signatures. Certain concerned citizens gathered information and needed a tool with which to make that information available . . . thus, this site was born. Although one of the initiatives failed approval at the County level, the other has been approved and will appear on the April 7, 2009, ballot. The County has the duty to its citizens to ensure that those who propose any incorporation plans have provided adequate information that satisfies the requirements of existing laws and statutes for a city to request incorporation . . . however, it does not guarantee any viability (there are cities that go bankrupt and are only cities in name alone). The petition signatures are required to ensure there is a percentage of registered voters in the proposed area to support the proposal. Please be aware that the County approval only means that the documents submitted contain adequate logistical and financial information for the County to work with but does not approve the incorporation -- only the voters can decide whether the incorporation is approved. Therefore, please vote! Many who have signed petitions have been told that the city would be "free" from taxation and wouldn't cost anything. According to Nelson Weber's detailed 10 city analysis, cities require much revenue to function. The most common tactic is to include as many businesses in the boundary as is expedient, while excluding opposing residents, so as to obtain tax revenue from the businesses. This drives up the cost of doing business and places an undue burden on those businesses. Even with business revenue, most cities levy taxes on their citizens to help fund the many services the City must provide (in most cases, these are services that were previously provided by the County). Did you know that when you live in a city, you are still required to pay taxes to the County for services you no longer receive? To add insult to injury, you typically have to pay additional taxes to the city for those same services? On August 21, 2007, the Sugar Creek Hills Working to be a City Committee submitted their petition for incorporation to the County which included a vague "trust-me" budget. After an initial rejection, the petition was approved in 2008 after making corrections to the description of the boundary. The Sugar Creek Hills initiative is reportedly being initiated to attempt to prevent a developer from building homes at the lowest square footage per the approved development plan. As I understand it, all legal procedures have been exhausted to force the developer to build homes at the higher square footage and the courts sided with the developer. It seems very unlikely that a city could effect a change that the courts have already made a decision on. A city would certainly be able to make planning and zoning rules that would affect new or future development. Case in point, in 1987, certain members of the Byrnes Mill community convinced the residents of Byrnes Mill to sign petitions to request incorporation. This, we were told, was to prevent a developer from putting in a trailer park. Petitions were signed and the initiative came up for a vote and it passed. The city incorporated but was unsuccessful in stopping the developer from building the trailer park. I know, because I am one of the people who foolishly voted for the incorporation. The fact is, cities are very expensive to run and result in bureaucracy that is only limited by the imaginations of those in office. The added taxes and ordinances will be never ending and burdensome. If you moved to High Ridge to get away from the confines of city life, then join with us in fighting incorporation attempts. Let's pool our resources, print signs, get the word out to neighbors and show these hobby politicians the door! |
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