ST. LOUIS 鈥 City finance officials are looking for help running the numbers on certain development tax breaks following delays working with one of the city鈥檚 biggest developers.
Bob O鈥橪oughlin, whose company owns Union Station, says his firm has been waiting for about a year for the city comptroller鈥檚 office to provide basic information needed to redeem roughly $18 million in incentives. The city granted the incentives to finance renovations like the new Ferris wheel and aquarium, which opened in 2019.
In a meeting in early July, a comptroller鈥檚 aide introduced a plan to seek third-party review of tax increment financing citywide following what he called 鈥渄isagreements with the developer鈥 on the Union Station project.
Kelley Anderson, special assistant to Comptroller Darlene Green, told other officials at the meeting that the comptroller鈥檚 office usually handles its work on tax increment financing deals, which use new taxes generated by development projects to finance their construction, in-house.
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But Anderson said that after the disagreements on the Union Station issue, the city鈥檚 top attorney recommended a third-party review. Representatives for Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and Aldermanic President Megan Green agreed to put the contract out for bid.
Anderson did not elaborate on what the problem was in the meeting. In an interview, he referred questions to Darlene Green, who said there was no dispute. And O鈥橪oughlin, the CEO of Lodging Hospitality Management, also downplayed the idea of a disagreement.
But he said LHM has been waiting for numbers on sales tax revenues needed to redeem its incentives for a while now. And it鈥檚 been a trip.
At one point, he said, the city was counting revenues from two office buildings that weren鈥檛 part of the Union Station project. Two people in the comptroller鈥檚 office that had been working on the issue just retired. LHM has even hired a consultant a few months back to walk everyone through the numbers.
鈥淚t should be pretty simple,鈥 O鈥橪oughlin said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 taken a long time.鈥
Still, O鈥橪oughlin said he understood that the city, like many others, is still dealing with staffing issues and other complications from the pandemic.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 have to tell you it鈥檚 tough getting things done in government these days,鈥 he said.
Green, the comptroller, did not respond Monday to questions about the delays and whether they were related to her office seeking outside help running numbers on other TIFs in the city.
Bidding on the contract to be the city鈥檚 third-party TIF monitor closed Friday with no responses.
Anderson, the comptroller鈥檚 aide, said the office could try again, but no decision has been made.
鈥淲e鈥檙e exploring our options,鈥 he said.
Jacob Barker of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Union Station has been a 蜜芽传媒 staple for over a century, in large part due to its ability to change with the times. Take a ride through the history of this testament to reinvention and revitalization. Production by Michael J. Collins
