I guess Mr. Hilmer's friend must wait another week to fatten up on our tax dollars!
Please note that no votes were taken in the Mehlville Fire Protection District Closed Session held on 2-11-10. Thank you.
Matt Hoffman
Hoffman & Slocomb, LLC
1115 Locust Street, 4th Floor
St. Louis, MO 63101
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Call Doesn't Pay Their Bills
It's been 7 months since Milligan and the Call were slapped with a default judgment yet they still haven't paid it off. Perhaps Milligan should get Hilmer to loan him some money, buy some property, and then flip it to the fire district.
Next Judgment
Date: 08/10/2009 Description: Judgment Entered Against: CALL PUBLISHING INC
Amount of Judgment: $9,182.69 Date of Satisfaction: not yet on file
Text: AFFIDAVIT FILED. SO ORDERED: JUDGE JUDY PREDDY DRAPER
Next Judgment
Date: 08/10/2009 Description: Judgment Entered Against: CALL PUBLISHING INC
Amount of Judgment: $9,182.69 Date of Satisfaction: not yet on file
Text: AFFIDAVIT FILED. SO ORDERED: JUDGE JUDY PREDDY DRAPER
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Mehlville Fire PD BOD Meeting Agenda Feb. 11, 2010
Mehlville Fire Protection District Agenda
Directors' Meeting February 11, 2010
MFPD Conference Room
11020 Mueller Road
______
Aaron Hilmer Bonnie Stegman Ed Ryan
Chairman Treasurer Secretary
______
CALL REGULAR MEETING TO ORDER AT 5:00 P.M.
PAYMENT OF BILLS OF FEBRUARY 1, 2010
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 3, 12, 17 AND 19, 2009
OLD BUSINESS
EMS CEU's
Mission Statement
NEW BUSINESS
2010 Tuition Reimbursement Request from one Firefighter
EMoPP – Instructor's Certificate
PUBLIC COMMENTS
BOARD VOTE ON CLOSED SESSION
OPEN SESSION ADJOURNMENT
CLOSED SESSION IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING OPEN SESSION
Personnel
Legal
Real Estate
CLOSED SESSION ADJOURNMENT
The MFPD is again in violation of Missouri's Sunshine Law. They have refused to disclose whether any votes were taken in the closed session!
Directors' Meeting February 11, 2010
MFPD Conference Room
11020 Mueller Road
______
Aaron Hilmer Bonnie Stegman Ed Ryan
Chairman Treasurer Secretary
______
CALL REGULAR MEETING TO ORDER AT 5:00 P.M.
PAYMENT OF BILLS OF FEBRUARY 1, 2010
APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 3, 12, 17 AND 19, 2009
OLD BUSINESS
EMS CEU's
Mission Statement
NEW BUSINESS
2010 Tuition Reimbursement Request from one Firefighter
EMoPP – Instructor's Certificate
PUBLIC COMMENTS
BOARD VOTE ON CLOSED SESSION
OPEN SESSION ADJOURNMENT
CLOSED SESSION IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING OPEN SESSION
Personnel
Legal
Real Estate
CLOSED SESSION ADJOURNMENT
The MFPD is again in violation of Missouri's Sunshine Law. They have refused to disclose whether any votes were taken in the closed session!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Mehlville Fire District is Sued Over Tax Rate
The Mehlville Fire District has decided to change their name to Defendant.
For the online story and comments:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/politics/story/9C31AC2314A68E54862576C500100AD2?OpenDocument
By Tony Messenger
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/09/2010
JEFFERSON CITY — A long-running dispute over a south St. Louis County fire district's ability to cut its local tax rate is heading to court again. And this time, the entire $10 million budget of the Mehlville Fire Protection District might be at risk.
Attorney General Chris Koster asked a St. Louis County Circuit Court judge on Monday to decide whether the fire district collected more taxes last year than state law allows.
The lawsuit, filed Monday, is believed to be the first of its kind in Missouri. Depending on how a judge rules, the district could end up having to pay back most of the revenue it collected in 2009, or voters from the district might be told that their 4-to-1 vote to lower its tax ceiling was an exercise in futility.
Either way, a district split by turmoil between the firefighters' union and its board finds itself in a familiar place: in court.
MORE POLITICAL NEWS
bullet See all our political coverage
bullet The Political Fix keeps you on top of local, state and national politics.
At issue is the Mehlville Fire Protection District's vote last year — also a first — to lower its tax ceiling by 36 cents. The move was pushed by fire district board chairman Aaron Hilmer. Hilmer and other board members thought they were lowering their tax ceiling from about 74 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to about 38 cents. A tax ceiling is the highest amount of tax a board has the authority to collect.
The problem is that a new state law that had been backed by St. Louis County lawmakers says that in a reassessment year, such as 2009, the effective tax ceiling for a political subdivision is whatever tax rate was set the year before. That means that Mehlville voters unknowingly lowered the district's tax ceiling from about 37 cents per $100 in assessed valuation to about a penny in 2009. That would have allowed the district to collect only a fraction of its $10 million budget.
State Auditor Susan Montee first brought attention to the taxing discrepancy last October when she told the district she wouldn't certify their proposed tax rate. Montee later referred the matter to the attorney general's office, which ultimately agreed with the auditor's legal reasoning.
As a matter of course, the state auditor refers several political subdivisions each year to the attorney general's office for improperly setting a tax rate. But this appears to be the first time the attorney general has taken a taxing district to court over the issue, officials said.
When the issue arose last fall, Hilmer and his board met at the attorney general's office to discuss their options. Hilmer said that Koster's staff told him they didn't plan to seek legal action, so the district went ahead and set the tax rate. A spokeswoman for Koster disputes that the attorney general's office gave the district the go-ahead.
Either way, Hilmer said he doesn't believe the lawsuit will amount to much.
"It doesn't worry us," Hilmer said. "No one is going to say: 'You have to give the money back.'"
In his petition, Koster asks a judge to rule that last year's tax vote was unconstitutional because it tried to avoid other state law regulating the rollback of taxes in reassessment years. Koster said that state law takes precedence in a dispute over local ballot language.
If a judge were to agree with Koster and overturn last year's vote, then the district would still have enough taxing authority to have collected the amount of money it already has because the vote to lower the tax ceiling would be tossed out.
But there's no guarantee that a judge will overturn the wording of last year's ballot issue. A different circuit court judge already ruled the wording was constitutional after district resident Dennis Skelton sued last year to try to stop the tax decrease vote from ever taking place.
That ruling, however, dealt with the issue of whether the district had the authority to place the vote on the ballot. The judge did not address the wording on the ballot initiative that tries to get around state tax rollback law.
Skelton, a critic of Hilmer and the current board, said he believes that the district should ultimately have to refund the money that it took above whatever taxing authority it had by law.
Hilmer calls that sentiment "disingenuous."
"The same people who said 'you can't cut our taxes' are now saying 'you took too much money,'" Hilmer said.
For the online story and comments:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/politics/story/9C31AC2314A68E54862576C500100AD2?OpenDocument
By Tony Messenger
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/09/2010
JEFFERSON CITY — A long-running dispute over a south St. Louis County fire district's ability to cut its local tax rate is heading to court again. And this time, the entire $10 million budget of the Mehlville Fire Protection District might be at risk.
Attorney General Chris Koster asked a St. Louis County Circuit Court judge on Monday to decide whether the fire district collected more taxes last year than state law allows.
The lawsuit, filed Monday, is believed to be the first of its kind in Missouri. Depending on how a judge rules, the district could end up having to pay back most of the revenue it collected in 2009, or voters from the district might be told that their 4-to-1 vote to lower its tax ceiling was an exercise in futility.
Either way, a district split by turmoil between the firefighters' union and its board finds itself in a familiar place: in court.
MORE POLITICAL NEWS
bullet See all our political coverage
bullet The Political Fix keeps you on top of local, state and national politics.
At issue is the Mehlville Fire Protection District's vote last year — also a first — to lower its tax ceiling by 36 cents. The move was pushed by fire district board chairman Aaron Hilmer. Hilmer and other board members thought they were lowering their tax ceiling from about 74 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to about 38 cents. A tax ceiling is the highest amount of tax a board has the authority to collect.
The problem is that a new state law that had been backed by St. Louis County lawmakers says that in a reassessment year, such as 2009, the effective tax ceiling for a political subdivision is whatever tax rate was set the year before. That means that Mehlville voters unknowingly lowered the district's tax ceiling from about 37 cents per $100 in assessed valuation to about a penny in 2009. That would have allowed the district to collect only a fraction of its $10 million budget.
State Auditor Susan Montee first brought attention to the taxing discrepancy last October when she told the district she wouldn't certify their proposed tax rate. Montee later referred the matter to the attorney general's office, which ultimately agreed with the auditor's legal reasoning.
As a matter of course, the state auditor refers several political subdivisions each year to the attorney general's office for improperly setting a tax rate. But this appears to be the first time the attorney general has taken a taxing district to court over the issue, officials said.
When the issue arose last fall, Hilmer and his board met at the attorney general's office to discuss their options. Hilmer said that Koster's staff told him they didn't plan to seek legal action, so the district went ahead and set the tax rate. A spokeswoman for Koster disputes that the attorney general's office gave the district the go-ahead.
Either way, Hilmer said he doesn't believe the lawsuit will amount to much.
"It doesn't worry us," Hilmer said. "No one is going to say: 'You have to give the money back.'"
In his petition, Koster asks a judge to rule that last year's tax vote was unconstitutional because it tried to avoid other state law regulating the rollback of taxes in reassessment years. Koster said that state law takes precedence in a dispute over local ballot language.
If a judge were to agree with Koster and overturn last year's vote, then the district would still have enough taxing authority to have collected the amount of money it already has because the vote to lower the tax ceiling would be tossed out.
But there's no guarantee that a judge will overturn the wording of last year's ballot issue. A different circuit court judge already ruled the wording was constitutional after district resident Dennis Skelton sued last year to try to stop the tax decrease vote from ever taking place.
That ruling, however, dealt with the issue of whether the district had the authority to place the vote on the ballot. The judge did not address the wording on the ballot initiative that tries to get around state tax rollback law.
Skelton, a critic of Hilmer and the current board, said he believes that the district should ultimately have to refund the money that it took above whatever taxing authority it had by law.
Hilmer calls that sentiment "disingenuous."
"The same people who said 'you can't cut our taxes' are now saying 'you took too much money,'" Hilmer said.
Mehlville Fire Lawsuit Settled With Update
As I said in my last post, the Mehlville Fire Board met in closed session Saturday. The district has confirmed that they approved a settlement with Firefighter Strinni and Paramedic Fleschert. The district faced the possibility of a large judgment in federal court this week. While I'm sure the district's insurance company will pay for the boards errors, the district and its taxpayers will be paying for it with increased premiums for a very long time.
Date: Monday, February 8, 2010 12:20 PM
From: C Juelfs Add to Addresses Block Sender
Subject: RE: February 6 Board Meeting Sunshine Law REquest
Size: 3 KB
February 6, 2010
Closed Session Vote
A unanimous vote was taken to approve settlement offer by insurance
company with regard to the Strinni/Fleschert federal litigation.
Update:
From the District's legal counsel:
At this point, the District has reached a tentative resolution of the
litigation pending execution of a settlement agreement. The case
remains active in the Federal District Court, though we are hopeful that
a settlement agreement will be fully executed in the near future.
Date: Monday, February 8, 2010 12:20 PM
From: C Juelfs
Subject: RE: February 6 Board Meeting Sunshine Law REquest
Size: 3 KB
February 6, 2010
Closed Session Vote
A unanimous vote was taken to approve settlement offer by insurance
company with regard to the Strinni/Fleschert federal litigation.
Update:
From the District's legal counsel:
At this point, the District has reached a tentative resolution of the
litigation pending execution of a settlement agreement. The case
remains active in the Federal District Court, though we are hopeful that
a settlement agreement will be fully executed in the near future.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Mehlville Fire Board has Emergency Saturday Meeting
The board threw together an emergency meeting at 10 am this morning with the sole purpose of immediately going into closed session. I guess Mr. Hilmer will be overcharging the district at the rate of over $6,000 an hour again as I'm sure the meeting lasted shorter than 1 minute.
The only item on the agenda for the closed session was Legal. We are left to speculate what they were discussing but smart money has it it was the trial set for this Monday in federal court.
The only item on the agenda for the closed session was Legal. We are left to speculate what they were discussing but smart money has it it was the trial set for this Monday in federal court.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The Mehlville Fire Board Did Nothing
Officially, they did nothing. At least that's what they are telling the public. Minutes probably won't be available from Tuesday's 45 second public meeting for a month, but the only thing on the meeting's agenda was to go into closed session.
In a response to our Sunshine Law inquiry, the district's custodian of records told me no votes were taken in closed session. We're left to speculating what they talked about in a meeting that was so urgently in need of discussion.
The only item on the agenda was real estate so we know that one of their buddies is planning on making a killing. Why did they have to rush? Why didn't they pull the trigger on the deal? Unfortunately, the new "Confidentiality" agreements are working so well that we don't even have a clue as to what is going on*.
* Bull$#&t
In a response to our Sunshine Law inquiry, the district's custodian of records told me no votes were taken in closed session. We're left to speculating what they talked about in a meeting that was so urgently in need of discussion.
The only item on the agenda was real estate so we know that one of their buddies is planning on making a killing. Why did they have to rush? Why didn't they pull the trigger on the deal? Unfortunately, the new "Confidentiality" agreements are working so well that we don't even have a clue as to what is going on*.
* Bull$#&t
Monday, February 1, 2010
Mehlville Fire BOD Agenda Today, Tuesday, Feb. 2nd, 2010
There's nothing on the agenda for the open portion of today's MFPD BOD meeting. That means the meeting will last less than a minute and Mr. Hilmer will again pay himself at the rate of over $6,000 an hour. Worse than that, the only thing on the closed session agenda is real estate. Another lucky South County Republican is gonna get fat with our tax dollars! It's like they've got their own little stimulus plan.
Mehlville Fire Protection District Agenda
Directors' Meeting February 2, 2010
MFPD Conference Room
11020 Mueller Road
______
Aaron Hilmer Bonnie Stegman Ed Ryan
Chairman Treasurer Secretary
______
CALL REGULAR MEETING TO ORDER AT 5:00 P.M.
OLD BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
PUBLIC COMMENTS
BOARD VOTE ON CLOSED SESSION
OPEN SESSION ADJOURNMENT
CLOSED SESSION IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING OPEN SESSION
Real Estate
CLOSED SESSION ADJOURNMENT
(Individuals wishing to make comments should fill out a Speaker's Card and turn it in to the Chairman before the meeting. )
The District's Training Facility and Conference Room are handicapped accessible. If you need any special accommodations, please contact 314.894.0420, extension 1713 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Posted 2/1/2010 @ 1200
Mehlville Fire Protection District Agenda
Directors' Meeting February 2, 2010
MFPD Conference Room
11020 Mueller Road
______
Aaron Hilmer Bonnie Stegman Ed Ryan
Chairman Treasurer Secretary
______
CALL REGULAR MEETING TO ORDER AT 5:00 P.M.
OLD BUSINESS
NEW BUSINESS
PUBLIC COMMENTS
BOARD VOTE ON CLOSED SESSION
OPEN SESSION ADJOURNMENT
CLOSED SESSION IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING OPEN SESSION
Real Estate
CLOSED SESSION ADJOURNMENT
(Individuals wishing to make comments should fill out a Speaker's Card and turn it in to the Chairman before the meeting. )
The District's Training Facility and Conference Room are handicapped accessible. If you need any special accommodations, please contact 314.894.0420, extension 1713 between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Posted 2/1/2010 @ 1200
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