From The Mayor's Desk

Post Third Properties

“Buildings and homes can become vacant or abandoned for a multitude of reasons, including:  destroyed in disasters, foreclosure, failed business or disinvestment by the owners.”

-United States Fire Administration

 Hello Neighbor,

Our great city of Ferguson, as do many, many of our fellow municipalities, are faced with a range of challenges that impact on our everyday quality of life, the stability of our communities and City’s ability to provide basic everyday services.  We are burdened with far too many abandoned properties that are in derelict (disrepair) conditions with the owners not doing basic repairs or paying property taxes.  Many of these properties have not had taxes paid in years and are subsequently taken by St. Louis County government because of delinquent taxes.   Those properties are attempted to be sold at auction by the County or ultimately moved to a program administered by the County call “Post-Third Properties” which means because they weren’t purchased through the County’s tax sale, the County then becomes the default owner.   Sadly, the municipalities where these properties are located are then burdened with upkeep until the County finds a buyer or the municipality can find an entity who is willing to purchase and develop the properties.  The cost to just the North St. Louis municipalities, including loss tax revenue and basic upkeep is estimated at just less than $15,000,000, a devastating amount toward these collective communities’ bottom lines. 

The St. Louis County Department of Revenue maintains an annual list of these properties.  Each impacted municipality does have an opportunity to provide a list of properties to the County’s Department of Revenue for redevelopment with the desire that the County titles those properties to the municipalities and eliminates all outstanding taxes due on the said properties.   For example, Unity Park in Ward 3 is a prime example of redevelopment of a Post Third Property.  At this point the municipality can acquire the properties for redevelopment and the titles of the properties are not clear.  It is up to the city or developers to clear the titles.  This process for exchanging ownership for the targeted properties has been in place for years until the County Executive Dr. Sam Page decided to PAUSE the program. 

Ferguson has 127 Post-Third Properties according to the Post Third Properties List which was published on December 1, 2023, by St. Louis County. As reported in the 2020 Census, the total number of vacant homes is a staggering 1,427out of 8,887 housing units. 

The City of Ferguson hosted the Metro East Region Missouri Municipal League on November 1, 2023, and several mayors were inquiring of each other as to why the PTP was PAUSED. I called County Councilwoman Rita Heard-Days of District 1, and asked for an update and additional information on the PTP. From that conversation County Councilwoman Days encouraged me to set a meeting date with all the mayors of North County to meet and to discuss the PTP PAUSE; she agreed to contact Council Councilwoman Chair Shalonda Webb to attend the meeting.  

 A letter was sent to all North County Mayors asking to include their city’s logo in agreement of a meeting and invite County Executive Dr. Sam Page to the meeting.  The meeting was set for Nov. 16, 2023, at 8:30am, held in Ferguson’s City Hall.  The County Executive had a conflict in his schedule and couldn’t attend the meeting with the mayors until January 5, 2024.  The mayors held the meeting with their Community Development staffs, Code Enforcement officers, City Managers/Administrators, and several stakeholders. The meeting was very proactive and informative that the next steps were agreed upon and followed.    One of the next steps was to hold a St. Louis County Council Committee of the Whole (COW), meeting to be chaired by County Councilwoman Chair Shalonda Webb on Dec. 5, 2023, at 3:30pm in the County Council Chambers. Another step was to prepare for the COW meeting and the mayors’ meetings hosted by mayors, city of Beverly Hills Brian Jackson, city of Jennings Gary Johnson, and Ella Jones, respectively.

The meeting was held on Dec 5, 2023, at 3:00pm, and each mayor, Community Development Directors, Code Enforcement Officers, Police Chiefs, and stakeholders had an opportunity to speak before every County Council member from the various Districts.  To our surprise several of the other County Council members didn’t have information concerning the PTP and why it was PAUSED.  County Executive Dr. Sam Page sent one of his staff members to explain to the mayors why the PTP program was PAUSED.  From that meeting the mayors decided to continue to meet in preparation for the January 5, 2024 meeting.

On January 5, 2024, the meeting was held at Ferguson’s Community Center and County Executive Dr. Sam Page arrived as scheduled.  The meeting progressed for about an hour and we were at an impasse.   I then turned to Dr. Page and asked if he would be willing to work with a mayors’ taskforce to get the work done to continue the PTP and he agreed.  The taskforce was organized after much deliberation and ready to meet for the work at hand.

In February 2024, the mayors met with Dr. Page’s staff for the first meeting and the following meetings were led by County Councilwoman Rita Days of District 1 and County Councilwoman Chair Shalonda Webb.  All parties involved hammered out the new legislation for the PTP and it should be on the Council’s agenda soon.  In the meantime, the Post Third Properties Program was started again and so far, the municipalities are applying for the PTP without any hesitation from the county.  The North County mayors working together to improve the quality of life for their citizens is their prime directive. 

Special thanks go to County Councilwoman Chair Shalonda Webb and her Administrative Assistant of District 4, Shonte Harmon-Young, County Councilwoman Rita Heard-Days and her Administrative Assistant of District 1, Maria Thomas, Anni Dineen and Kellie Shelton from the city of Jennings, Ms. Lillian Eunice from the city of Pine Lawn, City Manager John Hampton and Ferguson’s staff, and Elliot Liebson from the city of Berkeley.

Finally, thanks go to mayors, Sharon Pace, James McGee, Gary Johnson, Reggie Jones, Dinah Tatman, Tim Lowery, Michele DeShay, Terry Epps, Arnold Hinkle, Brian Jackson, Monica Jefferson, Patricia Ross, Willie Fair, Community Developers Directors, and City Managers/Administrators.  

Note:  Committee of the Whole meeting can be viewed on the County’s website on Dec. 5^th, all press releases and letters from the mayors can be viewed on the Ferguson City website from the Mayor’s Desk.

 Connecting,

Mayor Ella Jones