South County Voters Send Dooley a Message

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/political-fix/article_39009bee-a0f6-11df-9fa6-00127992bc8b.html

Many south St. Louis County voters in the Democratic primary for county executive on Tuesday sent a message that they were unhappy with County Executive Charlie Dooley by supporting an opponent who spent no money and did little campaigning.

Ronald Levy of Affton received nearly 40 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary for county executive in the five townships in South County, a township-by-township breakdown of unofficial results of the election showed.

The St. Louis County Election Board released the breakdown this afternoon. Countywide, Dooley received 75.82 percent of the vote in the primary and Levy, 24.18 percent. Dooley got about 80 percent of the vote in north and central St. Louis County and about 72 percent in west St. Louis County.

Levy said he had campaigned at some senior centers and dances. He said he spent no money. For many years he has advocated eliminating property taxes for schools and using a sales tax to support them. He also has called for using California's method of assessing property. There officials set the taxable value of property when it is sold. The value can increase no more than 2 percent a year after the sale. That system would eliminate assessors, Levy said.

The county's handling of trash has been big issue in south St. Louis County in recent years. Some residents vehemently opposed the county's dividing the unincorporated area into trash collection districts and assigning through bids a single hauler for each one. Oakville residents strongly objected to plans of Fred Weber Inc. to build a trash transfer station in the southern end of their area.

After the trash districts started, some skeptical residents are pleased with the way they work. Weber has permission to construct the transfer station near the intersection of Baumgartner and Old Baumgartner roads, but has not done so. The company may never construct the station because of a decline in trash volume.