When the subject of the city/occupation tax was brought up, I wonder again why St. Louis City, which is in the center of St. Louis County, is a county unto itself.  I had always had heard it was due to corruption of the city, but I found this interest bit of information.

"On July 4, 1876 the City of St. Louis voted to secede from St. Louis County and become an independent city. At that time the County was primarily rural and sparsely populated, and the fast-growing City did not want to spend its tax dollars on infrastructure and services for the inefficient county; the move also allowed some in St. Louis government to increase their political power. This decision would later come back to haunt the City of St. Louis, the results of that separation are still problematic today, but now it's the comparatively wealthy St. Louis County which declines association with the City."

This is very true.  The City would like to merge back with the county, but the county pretty much wants nothing to do with the city, due to the blight on the North side and the other problems facing the city, i.e. the recent state take over of the St. Louis City Schools.

I was also thinking what a NIGHTMARE it would be to combine all the duplicate offices, especially the Assessor and Recorder's offices, each with their own indexing of parcel numbers and books and pages.  They would probably have to maintain separate Recorder Offices for years to come and you would have to search a main Recorder's office and then from the combination date back to 1876 search the other office.  I am getting a headache just thinking about.  Don't even get me started about the Collector's Office...AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

Now Jackson County, Missouri is split up between two courthouses, East Jackson (Truman) and West Jackson and you need to know what courthouse your property will be recorded in.  Thank goodness they recently allowed you to record your document at either courthouse and have a common database, although if you have to go back in the books you get to go to the appropriate courthouse.

Thank goodness that St. Louis is only one of, I believe, four or five other cities/counties set up like this.  I believe Boston is set up the same way, anyone know what other city/counties are like this?

Jay