ST. LOUIS — St. Louis and St. Louis County voters have the opportunity to decide on two different ballot propositions from the Metropolitan Sewer District on Tuesday during Missouri municipal elections.
One of the ballot issues would raise taxes to overhaul the stormwater system.
The other decides how to pay for $750 million in wastewater improvements required by state and federal regulations. This means the improvements will cut into voters' wallets no matter which box they check.
Proposition W
MSD is working to reduce sewage overflows into local waterways with Proposition W.
5 On Your Side got a behind-the-scenes, 200-feet underground look at the almost seven-mile tunnel near Old and New Baumgartner roads tied to Proposition W, giving MSD greater bonding authority to spread the cost out over time.
"What Proposition W is about, it's not a question of whether to do that work," Sean Stone with MSD Project Clear said. "The work has to be done. It's a question of how we're going to pay for the work."
"If you take out a 30-year mortgage, your payments are going to be a lot more manageable, but it is going to cost you more," Stone said.
Voting "no" supports paying more upfront in customers' monthly bills but costing less in the long run. The work already underway is partially funded by previous bond sales.
Currently, workers digging out 100% hard rock to transport thousands of pounds of rock, according to MSD.
"It's carried out on this conveyor system, so all the way from the four miles up ahead of us," said Allen Muehlher, assistant director of engineering for MSD. "That rock is carried out the entire distance on this conveyor system."
An excavation should finish by the end of the summer to stay on the federally mandated schedule with the Clean Water Act.
Proposition S
Voters will also get to vote on Proposition S, which could change the tide of heavy rains overwhelming MSD's stormwater system.
Voting "yes" to "S" would create the first St. Louis regional stormwater improvement fund. MSD told 5 On Your Side it would cost taxpayers an estimated $25 per year.
Checking "no" means hundreds of miles of outdated sewers built before 1890 would remain. Voters in St. Louis, such as Tesha Stevenson in north St. Louis, voiced concerns at a public meeting about the propositions Thursday.
"Both of them are going to hurt regular people like me that just go to work and come home every day," Stevenson said.
Over the next four years, MSD has $1.6 billion worth of improvement projects scheduled. They said 98% of that is required by either state or federal regulations.
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