Pastors Push Back Against 'Annual Registration Fee'
After the city's director of emergency services delivered an opening prayer, the City Council took up some standard issues—maintenance of a traffic light, filling in a pot hole.
But eventually the council members got around to Item 8E—the reason City Hall was filled with pastors on a Thursday night.
At issue was a new $100 "annual registration fee" that the city imposed on churches and nonprofits. Most of the fee will go toward building safety and fire inspections, and $25 toward administration costs.
But East St. Louis pastors say Mayor Alvin Parks is playing a game of semantics, using the word "fee" where "tax" is more accurate....