ST. LOUIS: DON'T ASK STATE TO PAY THE BILL

Up the river this past week, in St. Louis City and County, voters split on the question of raising a quarter-cent sales tax to fund what they were rather vaguely told would be transportation improvements. Voters in the city passed the measure by a slim 50 percent-to-49-percent margin, while in the county the result was an overwhelming 58-42 defeat. Separate majorities were required from each jurisdiction to enact the sales tax. To add insult to this injury, voters across the river, in Madison County, Ill., rejected a similar measure by an even larger 62-38 margin.

Funny thing about Missouri, and even more than a few Illinois voters: You have to show them what you're going to do with their tax money. All sides now acknowledge that proponents didn't do that, and they paid the price with Tuesday's humiliating defeat. This result is the fourth time voters in the St. Louis metropolitan area have rejected taxes to expand the light rail system literally handed them by the federal government a few years ago. St. Charles County voters have twice rejected MetroLink tax proposals to extend this light rail system across the Missouri River into their communities.

Why should outstate Missourians care about the results of this election? One big reason is the designs urban civic leaders and transit planners have on our fuel tax money. This is a pot they have long coveted, and this year it has appeared they even have the support of Gov. Mel Carnahan and his Total Transportation Commission. The basic idea seems to be to get all us Missourians on the hook for something urban voters keep rejecting in their own back yards. Thanks, but no thanks.