ST. LOUIS COUNTY • The Missouri Supreme Court has overturned a St. Louis County ordinance enacted during the housing crisis to help stave off foreclosures.

Adopted by the County Council in 2012, the “Mortgage Foreclosure Intervention Code” required creditors to post fees totaling $450, of which $100 was nonrefundable, to cover the cost of a “mediation coordinator.” A mediator would be appointed to aid a possible settlement between lenders and the owners of delinquent properties.

Lenders that failed to comply with the code faced potential fines of up to $1,000.

The council enacted the ordinance to keep homeowners from abandoning foreclosed properties which might then fall into disrepair.

Passage of the bill came at a time when declining property values were taking a toll on county revenue from property taxes.

The Missouri Bankers Association and the Jonesburg State Bank challenged the ordinance saying state law guiding real estate lending superseded the intent of the action taken by the County Council.

Lower courts prior to this week’s final decision had kept the county from enforcing the law except for a period of a few months.

Judge George W. Draper III, writing the majority opinion in the case, agreed with the bankers.

Counties and municipalities, the justice concluded, lack the authority to enact broad legislation to address a broad “national crisis.”

State law, Draper wrote “limits” the authority of local government to “participate in a mediation program prior to foreclosure … or face criminal prosecution.”

Judge Richard B. Teitelman in a dissenting opinion wrote that “foreclosure mediation like the one established by the County can be a valid exercise of local government.”