The Next Step In Flood Plain Protection And Tax Increment Financing Reform

Corporate Welfare | March 5, 2014

By David Stokes | Read Time 1 min

Over the past decade, the Missouri General Assembly has taken several steps to preserve the state’s instrumental flood plains from subsidized development. In 2003, Saint Charles County was given a special exemption that disallowed the use of TIF in the flood plain within that county. In 2007, many other parts of Missouri were added to the preservation list as part of the Hunting Heritage Protection Areas Act, which limited the use of TIF within the 100-year flood plain in Missouri, though with numerous exclusions. House Bill 1709 intends to apply the safeguards that these parts of Missouri are experiencing to the rest of the state.

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About the Author

David Stokes

David Stokes is a St. Louis native and a graduate of Saint Louis University High School and Fairfield (Conn.) University. He spent six years as a political aide at the St. Louis County Council before joining the Show-Me Institute in 2007. Stokes was a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute from 2007 to 2016. From 2016 through 2020 he was Executive Director of Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, where he led efforts to oppose harmful floodplain developments done with abusive tax subsidies. Stokes rejoined the Institute in early 2021 as the Director of Municipal Policy. He is a past president of the University City Library Board. He served on the St. Louis County 2010 Council Redistricting Commission and was the 2012 representative to the Electoral College from Missouri’s First Congressional District. He lives in University City with his wife and their three children.

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