St. Louis City budget proposal totals $1.41 billion; officials cite tax refunds, ARPA interest and internal service shifts

Budget Director Paul Payne presented St. Louis City’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget to the Budget and Public Employees Committee on May 31, 2025, saying the total plan is $1.41 billion and the general fund would be $607.4 million.

Payne said the FY26 proposal is an increase of about 5.4% overall and a 4.6% increase for the general fund, but he warned several one-time and timing issues affect comparability with the prior year. “Refund totals at the end of the third quarter [were] as high as $47,200,000,” Payne said, attributing a large portion of the year’s revenue shortfall to refunds on earnings and payroll taxes paid to commuters and telecommuters.

Why this matters: the refunds depressed current-year revenues and complicate baseline assumptions for FY26. Payne said underlying receipts showed modest growth in some categories but that sales and use taxes were weaker year to date — sales tax receipts were down about 4.2% and…