ELR Citation: 44 ELR 20025
No(s). SC93195 (Mo. Feb 4, 2014)

The Supreme Court of Missouri reversed and remanded a lower court decision that a proposed ordinance that would impose additional sales taxes to pay for a light rail system in Kansas City, Missouri, violates the state constitution. The case arose after a community activist sought to place the ordinance on the ballot for public vote. Despite the lower court's decision to the contrary, the proposed ordinance does not appropriate money and, therefore, does not violate article III, section 51 of the Missouri Constitution. The proposed ordinance imposes no unfunded financial obligations on the city either expressly or through practical necessity. The ordinance simply imposes additional sales taxes. The lower court also erred in dismissing the activist's counterclaim to require the city to place the ordinance on the ballot. But the state's highest court expressed no opinion about the ultimate merits of the counterclaim.