Last year, the city council passed an amendment to the ordinance which already required boards and commission members to pay personal and property taxes but lacked a process to have that checked. That amendment gave a grace period so that members would have until February 28th of each year to pay their taxes.
This year, 6 people were identified by the city clerk and removed from their positions due to delinquent tax payments. Two additional people resigned before being removed. However, it appears that there are at least four people who are not on the list for removal that did not meet the requirements to remain seated as per the ordinance. These persons include Lozell Stiles, Alyce Herndon, Janelle Stowers, and Adrian Shropshire. Of these, Herndon remains delinquent, and Stiles and Stowers paid after the required date. Herndon and Stiles are on the Ferguson Special Business District, while Stowers serves on the Ferguson Neighborhood Improvement Program.
Adrian Shropshire, who is on the Planning Commission, is an unusual case. He paid taxes on a 2002 Jeep Cherokee, but the license plate for that Jeep has been on a new Acura model since at least August of 2021, when the Acura was in his driveway when Google took street view pictures. The same car is also seen on Google in August 2022 and has been seen in his driveway recently, as seen in the photo below. That means he’s been paying a significantly lower tax on his vehicle than he should for a newer car for at least three years. The city was notified of this discrepancy, but Shropshire is not on the list of those removed.
Whether there will be an additional review of this list remains to be seen.
