The City of Manchester is hoping to expand by annexing an unincorporated area of St. Louis County. But County Executive Sam Page is against the idea.
The annexation would turn about 6,500 people who live in the County into residents of the city of Manchester.
"The proposed new boundaries will create two islands of unincorporated St. Louis County, making it more challengng to provide police services to these areas," Page said.
He also said the people living in the 1,400 acres that would go to Manchester will see their taxes go up, but that they won't necessarily see an improvement in services.
Manchester's proposal says residents would have better influence in their community with how much lower the elected official-to-voter ratio would be. The proposal also says new residents would benefit from better government services like trash, snow removal, and fighting crime -- but Page says County police already do a fine job.
"If the area is annexed, those living there would no longer have the St. Louis County Police Department for law enforecement," he reiterated. "The average response time to call in the proposed annexed area is one minute and 45 seconds."
The proposal expands enough to make Town and Country and Des Peres border towns for Manchester. Get more details about the proposal here.