The City’s Budget and Public Employee Committee will discuss and take public comment on Board Bill Number 106, which was introduced by Board President Megan Green and Alderman Rasheen Aldridge.
Board Bill Number 106 is an ordinance calling and providing for the holding of an election in the City of St. Louis on April 7, 2026, for the purpose of submitting to the qualified voters of the City of St. Louis a proposal to reauthorize a one half of one percent sales tax on all retail sales made in the City of St. Louis which are subject to taxation under Chapter 144 RSMo. in order to approve the use of said tax for bus rapid transit; and containing a severability clause and an emergency clause.
This economic sales tax was originally passed in 2017 for light rail expansion in the Northside Southside corridor. In September, the Bi-State Development Board of Commissioners approved modification to the Northside-Southside Study Contract at its Board meeting. This will support an alternative analysis study to determine the feasibility of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system instead of light rail. The proposed 15-month, $10 million study, plus 10 percent contingency effort, covers program management, environmental work, alternative analysis and preliminary design of the project up to 30 percent. This study modification will be funded by the City of St. Louis’ Metro City Capital Trust Fund.
The need to explore the validity of a BRT system in lieu of the St. Louis MetroLink Green Line came as a result of several factors. The information developed through 30 percent design phase of the proposed $1.1 billion St. Louis MetroLink Green Line project, coupled with the state of federal funding for transit, led to a determination by Metro Transit and its consulting team that the project was potentially not fundable at the federal level. During this same time frame, Mayor Cara Spencer expressed interest in determining a more economically viable means for providing transit access in the corridor.
City of St. Louis Budget and Public Employee Committee
