St. Louis aldermen committee adopts FY2026 postage and printing plan; director to notify members of allowances

The Personnel and Administration Committee of the St. Louis City Board of Aldermen on June 26 approved a plan to use a Pitney Bowes postage machine and existing Multigraph printing services for fiscal year 2026 and asked staff to notify aldermen about available allowances.

The committee adopted the administrative plan rather than locking in a specific dollar amount, after hearing staff estimates on machine and postage costs and committee members' questions about how the Multigraph budget is allocated.

Director Angracia briefed the committee on the plan and vendor quotes. "We're able to access... one of their nice machines for about $1,600 per year," Director Angracia said, and described the model's capacity as about "40 letters in the machine at a time, 95 letters going through per minute." Angracia also said the current first-class postage rate used in calculations is "69¢ right now per standard letter," and that an allocation equivalent to 200 first-class stamps per month per elected official would amount to about $138 per month per elected official and roughly $26,000 per year in the board's postage budget.

Angracia said the board's Multigraph printing line currently holds $22,000 for departmental printing, and recommended leaving $2,000 for administration-level purchases. "That would leave the elected officials with $1,300 a month to print," Angracia said.

Committee members raised concerns about distribution and tracking of the shared Multigraph budget. Alderman Aldrich thanked staff for the work and asked whether the Pitney Bowes administrative fee would be charged to the Board of Aldermen budget or to individual ward expense accounts; Angracia replied, "No. It would come out of the board of aldermen budget. So it would not be... out of anyone's individual expense account." Alderman Aldrich also asked whether Multigraph overspending could be covered by reallocating funds within a department's budget, and Angracia said that reallocations from other line items are possible when funds are available.

Several members said different aldermen use the printing and mailing budget differently — postcards, note cards, resolution folders or frames — and asked for clearer guidance and regular reminders. Alderwoman Boyd said newer members sometimes do not know what funds are available or how to use them. Director Angracia said staff will send a hard-copy letter and email, coordinate with legislative aides and secretaries, and send a midyear reminder about remaining balances: "We are going to be sure that we are communicating proactively about postage and mailing," Angracia said.

Committee discussion touched on unit prices for common items: committee members cited note cards at about 18¢ apiece, and resolution folders at roughly $6 each; one suggestion was to explore buying frames in bulk as a lower-cost option for presentation items. Angracia cautioned that folders and presentation accessories drive much of the printing expense and said staff could supply recent spending data from Multigraph to the committee.

The committee voted to approve the plan. A motion to adopt the plan was made and seconded; the chair stated, "Hearing no objection to previous roll. Motion passes." Earlier in the meeting the committee approved the minutes from June 5, 2025, by roll call (Vice Chair Powell, Alderman Clark Hubbard and President Green voting aye).

The committee did not adopt any board bills or resolutions during the session. Staff follow-up items assigned during the discussion include providing the committee updated Multigraph expenditure data, clarifying the Multigraph line-item location, and issuing communications to aldermen and their staff about how to access and monitor postage and printing allocations.

Members of the committee and staff who spoke on the record included Director Angracia; President Green; Vice Chair Collins; Vice Chair Powell; Alderman Clark Hubbard; Alderman Aldrich; Alderwoman Boyd; Alderman Shane; and administrative assistant Traci Billups, who was named as the staff contact for outgoing communications. The meeting adjourned after the plan vote.