St. Louis County Voters OK Bonds for Court Buildings

St. Louis County voters on Tuesday approved Proposition S, a $100 million bond issue that will fund work on two court buildings located in the county seat of .

"It's a wonderful feeling," said Tom Lang, chairman of the Citizens for Safe Courts and Kids group that backed the measure. He thanked voters for their support.

Overall, the measure passed with 59 percent of the vote. Forty-one percent of voters opposed it.

Most of the bond issue—$85 million—will be . The remaining $15 million will fund repairs at the circuit court.

Bonds from 1998 that funded the county's jail are being retired in the next 18 to 20 months, Judge Douglas Beach told Patch earlier this year. County officials hope the new bond issue can succeed that one, at slightly lower interest rates, meaning the measure would not raise residents' taxes.

The measure needed 57.15 percent approval to pass. It represents about $8 in annual property taxes for each St. Louis County property owner.

The proposition has been described as a "key infrastructure vote" in a tweet by St. Louis city Mayor Francis Slay that St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley later shared.

Now that the measure has passed, Lang said, the county will work to prepare paperwork associated with the bonds. The county has preliminary plans for construction and will be able to finalize them now that funding is available.

Proposition S will save taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in maintenance costs at the buildings and make courts safe and accessible, Lang said.

"We'll be able to configure them in a way that will be much more efficient," he said.