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St. Louis streets director tells committee contractor costs and staffing gaps are straining repairs
Summary
At a St. Louis Budget & Public Employees Committee hearing, interim Streets Director Jim Solman and Commissioner Ken Flake described a backlog of street work, rising contractor costs and shortfalls in materials and permit revenue that they said will require added funding and administrative follow-up.
At a May committee hearing, interim Director of Streets Jim Solman told the Budget & Public Employees Committee the department faces a growing workload and rising contractor prices that will require additional funding.
"We do 600 jobs a year and we got 600 jobs waiting to be done," Solman said, describing the office's caseload and the impact of rising contractor prices on the director's office budget.
The remarks came during the committee—s review of Board Bill 1, the St. Louis City FY26 fiscal budget. Committee members pressed the department on staffing levels, revenue declines in permit lines and the rising cost of replacing damaged street infrastructure.
Why it matters: committee members said the condition of streets, sidewalks and lighting affects resident safety, quality of life and long-term maintenance costs. Aldermen repeatedly asked for clearer revenue and project accounting so ward-level and citywide funds can be matched to need.
Most important facts
- Backlog and productivity: Solman said the department historically completes about 450 jobs a year (one exchange in the hearing referenced 450 and then 505), but currently has roughly 600 jobs waiting. He attributed part of the gap to rising contractor bids and staffing shortages.
- Street excavation and blocking permits: Commissioners said revenue from blocking and excavation permits has declined. The transcript shows blocking permit revenue fell from about $1.4 million in FY22 to roughly $600,000 projected in FY26. Solman and Commissioner Ken Flake said some of that change reflects permit consolidation (excavation permits sometimes include blocking) and changes after a 2019 shift in how contractors were billed and a later restoration/utility coordination ordinance that moved more responsibility to utilities.
- Salt/asphalt and materials shortfalls: Flake and Solman said contract and material costs have risen, leaving shortfalls for salt and asphalt. Flake noted that street crews are "short of salt money" and "short of asphalt money," and that increased contractor prices make planned replacements harder to deliver.
- Streetlight replacements: The department reported about 500 to 600 light poles are knocked down each year. Solman told the committee the price increase for replacement poles this year pushed an estimated need to roughly $719,000 to buy replacement poles, up from prior years.
Discussion and follow-up
Committee members asked staff to return with itemized explanations for a few revenue and line-item anomalies, including the blocking-permit revenue decline and a zero entry for an account labeled "damages to property" in FY26. Solman said he would refer the damages-account question to the commissioner and the department accountant and provide the committee an answer.
The committee also asked the department to show how the FY26 budget moves positions between accounts (for example, moving debris supervisors to an administrative account) and to confirm that on-the-ground crew counts would not drop even when line items display a reallocation on paper. Commissioner Ken Flake told the committee "it's not changing the number of people in the program itself" and that the change was a reclassification rather than a workforce reduction.
Background and context
Committee members referenced a 2019 change that largely ended the city topping contractors' utility cuts with asphalt and a subsequent utility coordination ordinance that makes utility companies responsible for larger repairs (including paving when they tear up substantial portions of a block). The department said those policy changes help explain declining excavation-related revenue lines.
Ending
The committee asked the Streets Department to return with clarifying materials on permit revenues and the damages account and to provide updated cost estimates for replacing poles and filling shortfalls for salt and asphalt. No final appropriation decisions were made during the hearing; the discussion was exploratory and focused on clarifying FY26 budget assumptions.
