Flint Fowler has proven that he indeed will vote and speak his mind as a member of the St. Louis Public Schools Board of Education and that he is not a yes-man for Mayor Slay or the board majority.
On Tuesday, during a board meeting addressing the current tax levy, SLPS Treasurer Enos Moss announced that the City of St. Louis has an abysmal 88 percent collection rate on past-due personal property taxes. Moss also attacked the sacred Tax Increment Financing (TIFs) that is beloved by Slay, business leaders and developers. Moss estimated faulty tax collection costs the financially strapped district $18 million and that TIFs take away additional revenues of up to $700,000.
Fowler then ripped Ronald Leggett, the city’s collector of revenue, and accused him of political favoritism.
“I know that, depending on who it is (that owns the property), you (Leggett) show more leniency,” Fowler said during the meeting.
Fowler is director of the Herbet Hoover Boys and Girls Club in north St. Louis, and he said Leggett has allowed owners of a neighboring eyesore to slide on their tax responsibility.
“We have that big abandoned Carter Carburetor plant next to us and every year he lets them slide,” Fowler told Peter Downs, an unsuccessful school board candidate who publishes the e-mail newsletter SLS Watch. “After three years of not paying taxes the property is supposed to go to auction, but he keeps forgiving them.”
If Fowler worked for Slay, his fate might be sealed with a quick firing. However, Fowler was elected by the people of St. Louis and cannot be rudely escorted from this job by security officials. The EYE hopes Fowler’s candor and honesty does not not end when he hears that City Hall is not happy with his comments.