Upcoming vote in Weldon Spring

Greetings from the winter wonderland that is Weldon Spring, MO! Hope that all of you who got to, or were forced to, stay home from work or school today are enjoying yourself.

On February 5th (this coming Tuesday) Weldon Spring voters will have the opportunity to voice their opinion on the city's proposed annexation of the Missouri Research Park (MRP). Several businesses within the Research Park are upset about the proposed merger as it will increase the cost of their operations there due to a 5% city franchise fee on utilities. The proposal's opponents claim that this fee will reduce the companies ability to fund their research and development efforts, which is the primary reason they are located within the Missouri Research Park. Weldon Springs counters that the revenue from the 5% fee is necessary for the city to provide the additional services the MRP would receive, such as snow removal and street repair.

It should be noted that this vote is only part of the process. A declaratory judgement still must be made by the courts regarding the annexation. If the courts approval the Weldon Spring's proposal, then a simple majority of city voters will decide whether the proposed annexation will go through or not.

(Some information used in this post was taken from the 1/30/08 issue of the St. Peters Journal)