Politics & Government

Geerling Promises Honesty and Integrity to Florissant's Top Job

Supporters say Susan Geerling, a city council veteran, will keep promises on taxes previously made to city taxpayers.

Three things stand out about Florissant mayoral candidate Susan Geerling, Jim Conway, her uncle, said. He knows a thing or two about running a city.

Geerling, who served as Florissant city council member for eight years, is one of .

First, “Susan is just a fine individual with high standards for herself and her family,” said Conway, who served as St. Louis mayor from 1977 through 1981. Geerling told her campaign workers there would be no attacks or negative messages about other candidates.

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Second, “She is impeccably honest. I think she’s an ideal candidate for people who want to feel comfortable about the person in the office of mayor when it comes to representing them and making decisions on their behalf,” Conway said.

Suzanne Eagan, widow of longtime Florissant Mayor James Eagan, echoed Conway’s sentiments and called Geerling “a person of integrity.”

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Finally, “She’s steely,” her uncle said. “She is nice, but she has great resolve. If she’s determined to accomplish something, you cannot move her off of that issue. She’s out front on what her position is, and she wants what is best for the majority.”

Lowering taxes, keeping promises

Geerling said she wants to reduce some taxes and make sure Florissant officials keep previous promises about taxes.

When voters approved Florissant’s half-cent parks sales tax in 1998, officials said it would be used for park improvements. But gradually, the parks tax was used for park employee salaries. That’s legal, but it’s not what residents expected, Geerling said.

“When residents vote in favor of a tax, they expect to be given what they’re promised,” she said. “What residents were promised were improvements to parks.”

She also wants to reduce city utility taxes from 7 percent to 3 percent, another promise made when voters passed the half-cent capital improvement sales tax in 1996. The tax initially was lowered to 3 percent, but it has jumped back to 7 percent.

Geerling also wants to cut the annual sewer lateral tax from $50 to $28. The City collects more than it spends on the sewer lateral program, but the money cannot be used for other projects. The program insures homeowners against sewer lateral failures, as the repairs could cost residents thousands of dollars.

Geerling said she would use her own car as mayor--the City currently provides one--and urged the city council to reduce the mayor’s salary by 25 percent.

Council members recently , ensuring the mayor’s salary cannot be lowered until the next election.

Curbing spending

Geerling told Florissant Patch the City must control its spending. She said after the City sold its water plant for $14.5 million in 2002, it then spent $4.5 million of the funds in three years.

“All of a sudden, we had this $14.5 million, and it was like Christmas,” Geerling said. “I was very uncomfortable with it all.”

With $10 million of the water plant money left, she pushed to put the money into an escrow fund. Mayor Robert Lowery agreed. But after Geerling left the council in 2003, it was rolled into the general fund, and much more is gone, she said.

Eagan believes Geerling will be a fiscally responsible leader, pointing to Geerling's close attention to spending as a council member. 

Cross Keys development: For or against?

Geerling said that some people believe she was against redeveloping Cross Keys. That’s not true, she told Florissant Patch.

“I was always in favor of redeveloping Cross Keys,” Geerling said. “I was extremely excited about redeveloping that shopping center. I wanted to do it the right way.”

She voted against the site plan and Tax Increment Financing (TIF) agreement because she did not believe it was the best the City could do, she said. Geerling said she is happy the shopping center is popular and successful.

“Residents see a beautiful shopping center,” she said.

But it won’t benefit the community until the TIF bonds are paid off in 2024 or 2025, Geerling said. Until then, the City, school and other taxing districts get no more revenue than in 2001 when Cross Keys was dilapidated.

The redevelopment started after at New Halls Ferry Road and Lindbergh Boulevard without tax incentives. Then-mayor James Eagan told the council told wanted to buy Cross Keys, across the street from Lowe's.

“The council at that time was unanimous and said, ‘That’s not really the best thing for Florissant,’” Geerling said.

Instead, the council sought proposals and requested that home improvement stores not be included at the site. Three developers responded. Eagan had passed away and current Mayor Robert Lowery Sr. was elected.

“The (Lowery) administration was heavily pushing Sansone as developer,” Geerling said. The council approved although Geerling voted against the company.

Sansone provided a prospective tenants list including, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Linens 'n Things, Best Buy and Old Navy, “stores we were excited about getting,” she said.

“After they were given the go-ahead, we found out that one of their major anchors was going to be Home Depot,” Geerling said.

Council members were shocked, but it was too late to turn back. Home Depot seemed to be in the background all along, she said.

Of the three proposals, Sansone requested the lowest TIF funding amount. However, on a Hazelwood development, Sansone had requested additional TIF funds after being named preferred developer, Geerling said.

They did the same on the Cross Keys development as the council, and Florissant City Council voted 5-4 to raise the TIF funding by $2.9 million. That made it St. Louis County’s highest percentage TIF compared to overall project investment, Geerling said.

Sansone also got its Transportation Development District (TDD) sales tax raised from its initial half percent to one percent.

“It seemed like every time (Sansone) came back to us, something changed,” Geerling said. That included the site plan and the working agreement, she said.

Geering still has a PowerPoint presentation she prepared before the final vote--which ended 5-4 in favor of the Cross Keys development and the TIF.

“We have this gorgeous shopping center in there,” she said. “If it were a non-TIF shopping center, it would be reaping big benefits for Florissant, and we wouldn’t have to worry what the economy is doing and not giving employees a raise."

“But Cross Keys is history,” she said. “We need to move forward.”

She said the city should aggressively recruit new businesses and aid existing businesses, “but the city needs to think hard about additional TIFs.”

Faith and health

After the Cross Keys development was approved in 2002, Geerling opted not to seek re-election in 2003 for family reasons. Then, she began feeling ill in 2004, and in 2005 was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Geerling said she had a rough year, but it was all part of what she believes is a larger plan.

“In God’s providence, there are no mere coincidences,” she said.

Chemotherapy worked for Geerling, and she went into remission for two years. Had she been re-elected, Geerling would have had council duties while going through chemotherapy and recovery.

Geerling said her cancer came back in 2007, but chemo worked again and she’s been in remission since. Her doctor told her she was fine to run for mayor, she said.

“She was encouraging,” Geerling said. “If she had said, ‘Susan, I don’t think this is a good thing for you to do,’ I wouldn’t be running.”

Joe Geerling told Florissant Patch his wife “has always done what she believed right during crisis moments in her life.”

Geerling was six months pregnant with the last of her four children in 1996  when she began feeling terrible. Joe took her to the hospital, and doctors said they would have to deliver the baby immediately.

Geerling also has lupus, which posed problems during her pregnancy. When complications threatened her life and that of her baby, Geerling, a member of , asked doctors to postpone the cesarean section rather than risk the baby’s life.

“She said, ‘I’ll take a risk,’” Joe said. “You say you’re pro-life, but what happens when your own life is at stake? Susan proved she follows her beliefs.”

Five days later, after treatments strengthened her and the baby, daughter Katie was born at one pound, six ounces. Today, Katie is a healthy and active teenager.

Win or lose the election, Geerling believes it will be no mere coincidence. 


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