HS/HCS/HB 686 - This act establishes a metropolitan park and recreation district for the development, operation, and maintenance of a public system of interconnecting trails and parks throughout the counties comprising the St. Louis area including St Louis City, St Louis County, St. Charles County and Jefferson County. The district shall be run by a board of citizens chosen by the county executives of each participating county. A regional recreation fund shall be established for expenses incurred by the board for property purchases and incidental costs related to the operation of the district. The fund shall be the repository of proceeds from a one tenth of one cent sales tax. Membership in the district and sales tax funding shall be subject to a vote of the people in the affected political subdivisions. Fifty percent of the proceeds of the sales tax shall go to the district and fifty percent shall be returned to the participating counties for local park improvements.

This act also gives added powers to regional recreation districts located elsewhere in the state including expansion, bonded indebtedness and the ability to generate revenue by means of an annual property tax not to exceed sixty cents per hundred, or a sales tax not to exceed one-half of one cent on retail purchases. Either means of providing revenue to the district shall be subject to a vote of the people in the affected district.

This act is similar to truly agreed to SB 405.
ELIZABETH BAX