Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the City Budget Amendments topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
St. Louis budget committee forwards amended Board Bill 1 after itemized staffing and fund adjustments
Summary
The Budget and Public Employees Committee voted to pass Board Bill 1 as amended, sending it to the full Council with a "due pass" recommendation after Budget Director Paul Payne detailed personnel additions and funding corrections, including a $100,000 transfer to the Impacted Tenants Fund and other departmental staffing changes.
The St. Louis City Budget and Public Employees Committee voted unanimously June 6 to send Board Bill 1 to the full Board with a “due pass” recommendation after reviewing a package of committee amendments and technical corrections.
Budget Director Paul Payne told the committee that ENA (the committee referenced in the meeting) approved a summary of the committee’s amendments and several corrections. “What you have before you is a document, that ENA, passed, yesterday at its, its meeting,” Payne said, and then listed the committee’s requested additions and other adjustments.
The changes the committee approved include staff additions and reclassifications across multiple departments: increases in attorney salaries for the City Counselor’s office; a customer service representative and a customer service supervisor for Neighborhood Stabilization; a senior plan examiner for the Building Division; two utility workers for the Building Demolition Fund; program specialists and supplies for CEMA (the city emergency management division referenced in the meeting); a position swap in Refuse to support mapping; two painter positions for the Traffic Division; software license funding for CEMA; and two utility workers for Parks.
Payne also described a correction moving a public information officer position from the Police Department back to the Mayor’s Office, noting that the post “traditionally worked for the mayor's office” and that the ENA action corrected its personnel assignment. He said ENA also approved small personnel-schedule edits in the Comptroller’s Office and a $4,500 addition for the Register’s Office.
The committee discussed funding for an Impacted Tenants Fund. Payne said the Department of Human Services identified $100,000 in carryover funds that can be transferred into the Impacted Tenants Fund, increasing the amount noted in the proposed budget from $160,000 to $260,000. Payne summarized net effects: “Overall, the general fund did not change, at all. The fund 11 11, which is special funds, went down by $80,000,” reflecting corrections and transfers described in the meeting.
Committee members thanked staff for the work and for responsiveness during the recent tornado response. Chair Kiera Aldrich praised colleagues’ engagement and the speed of the committee’s work, calling the process “a testament to teamwork.” Alderman Browning and others complemented Payne and staff for accessibility and flexibility during the budget season.
On procedural motions, the committee voted to bring Board Bill 1, as amended in committee, forward, unbank the bill, and then voted to pass it out of committee with a due-pass recommendation to the full Board. The clerk recorded four aye votes and no opposition.
The action sends Board Bill 1, with the committee’s staffing additions and technical corrections and the adjusted appropriation for the Impacted Tenants Fund, to the Board floor for further consideration. The committee chair asked colleagues to support the bill on second reading and indicated the committee will return to quarterly reports and further oversight later in the year.
