© 2024 University of Missouri - KBIA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Whether or not to increase the zoo tax is now up to St. Louis-area voters

Kali, a polar bear, swims at the Saint Louis Zoo.
File photo | Véronique LaCapra | St. Louis Public Radio
Kali, a polar bear, swims at the Saint Louis Zoo.

The fate of a sales tax hike to support the Saint Louis Zoo will be in voters’ hands, as Gov. Eric Greitens signed a bill into law Monday.

Lawmakers behindthe bill, which was passed during the regular session with bipartisan support, said the one-eighth of a cent tax increase would go toward infrastructure issues. It isn’t clear when the sales tax question will go to voters in St. Louis and St. Louis County.

Currently, the zoo receives no direct sales tax money from city or county residents.

Opponents of the bill said another sales tax would place an extra burden on homeowners, whose property taxes already help support the zoo as part of the Zoo-Museum District. The zoo, which opened in 1904, received about $21 million in 2015 from that property tax.  

Greitens spokesman Parker Briden confirmed the governor’s action in an email.

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.