Mayoral hopefuls differ on future of Millstadt
Post-Dispatch
Monday, Mar. 07 2005

Mayoral candidates
differ on growth

Rate of growth is a key issue
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Millstadt
- Location: Southwest St. Clair County
- Population (year 2000): 2,794
- Founded: 1837
- Largest employer: Kerry Ingredients
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German heritage, proximity to St. Louis, and seven single-family subdivisions
in the works, is at the dawn of a major population explosion.

The voters - some who have lived in the community for generations, some who
have just arrived - will decide the destiny of their small town on April 5 when
they choose between two candidates with different visions for the future.

Incumbent Mayor Weldon Harber is running for re-election on a campaign platform
to shepherd the unprecedented growth of the small town, while his opponent
hopes to slow it down.

"There are a lot of things I've helped start that I'd like to see through to
the finish," Harber said. "We're working on a new sewer plant that is
desperately needed, not just because of the growth, but because the old one was
outdated."

Harber also said he'd like to see many of the new transportation projects the
village has pursued come into fruition. The Illinois Department of
Transportation is planning major upgrades, including shoulder widening, ditch
work and new intersection design on Illinois Route 158 from Route 3 to Route
15.

Last year, Harber was criticized by area school districts for supporting a
tax-increment financing district in downtown Millstadt. A TIF sets aside tax
revenue generated by future development to pay costs related to that
development.

The school districts said they would lose critical tax dollars as a result of
the new taxing body. District 201, along with the Millstadt Consolidated School
District, had asked the village to enter into an agreement designed to keep
some money coming to the schools throughout the 23-year life of the TIF
district. No agreement was made.

Harber said he's still willing to work with the schools, but he hasn't received
any formal request for them to take advantage of the district since its
inception.

Bruce Nowak, a 70 year-old Millstadt resident, is opposing the incumbent mayor,
and is critical of the TIF district.

"The TIF district was supposed to get rid of blighted areas," Nowak said. "We
don't have any blighted areas."

He added: "It's going to take money away from the school."

Nowak said he is running to be a contrast to the mayor's "focus on real estate
growth."

"All of these subdivisions are putting our small town charm into peril. I'd
like to leave our rural area rural," Nowak said.

The village, with a population of 2,794, could double by the next census, and
Nowak believes this population increase could impose stiff financial penalties.

"We can't afford to run water lines all over the place," Nowak said. "The money
it's going to cost to accommodate all of this additional housing is going to be
huge."

Mostly, Nowak wants to keep the village a quaint small town.

"I want to keep it the same small community it has been for such a long time,"
Nowak said. "I don't want to make it into anything else."