FERGUSON — Ferguson lawmakers approved an unusual new bill Tuesday aimed at targeting commercial property owners' earning power to pressure them into paying past-due property taxes.
The City Council voted 6-1 to allow businesses to deny license renewals for unpaid property taxes. The measure doesn't apply even if a business owner is simply renting space and the landlord has past-due taxes.
The ordinance would give nine-month “provisional” licenses to businesses whose landlords are behind on their taxes. If the property taxes remain unpaid, the city's finance director would hold a hearing with the business and property owner to decide whether to extend the business's provisional license.
Ferguson's new ordinance is unusual among St. Louis County municipalities, which don't typically make special efforts to collect past-due property taxes because state law requires the county government to auction properties within three years of them becoming delinquent.
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Alan Mueller, a former architect and resident, said the bill was “cruel and unfair” and could expose the city to lawsuits from businesses that lost their licenses because landlords didn't pay taxes.
“It's an incredibly burdensome thing for someone who just went out of business to seek indirect damages from a private company with no guarantee that they'll be paid,” Mueller said at the hearing. “It would be much easier to sue the city for the direct damages caused by this bill, and they would be guaranteed to be paid.”
The City Council voted without debate after amending the bill to add a nine-month grace period in response to concerns from business leaders. Councilman Nakitia Noa was the lone vote against the bill.
Ferguson City Councilman Nick Kassoff, who introduced the bill, said most delinquent commercial properties are owner-occupied and it's unfair to allow property owners who are behind on their taxes to make money from their tenants.
See life in St. Louis through the lens of Post-Dispatch photographers. Edited by Jenna Jones.
