Committee advances pay bill for St. Louis Board of Elections, renames Columbus Day on payroll schedule

The St. Louis Board of Aldermen Budget and Public Employees Committee on Oct. 12 advanced Board Bill 182, a pay bill for the St. Louis Board of Elections, adopting an amendment to replace “Columbus Day” with “Indigenous Peoples’ Day” on the payroll schedule and giving the bill a due-pass recommendation by a 5-0 vote.

The bill adds a 3% across-the-board raise for Board of Elections employees in Section 4, Subsection A(3), and includes a fiscal note the committee determined overstated the first-year cost; committee members said the fiscal note reflects full-year FY2026 numbers and will be corrected on the floor.

Republican Director of Elections Gary Stoff and his Democratic counterpart, Ben Borgmeyer, introduced the bill and told the committee the salary structure helped them recruit and retain qualified staff during a recent reorganization. "The salary structure contained in the board bill is a valuable incentive," Stoff said, adding that the office recently hired one employee from outside and promoted another from within.

The bill’s only substantive policy change, as presented in committee, is the 3% pay increase for election staff. Stoff said the fiscal note included a remainder-of-year estimate of $11,364.51 but that the analyst had used FY2026 figures, which overstates the near-term cost. Committee members said they will handle a corrected fiscal note as a floor amendment if the sponsor brings one forward.

A public commenter, Dalen Brown, raised a set of questions about aldermanic contact information, updated city code access and other constituent-service tools; the committee responded that the hearing’s focus was the Board of Elections budget and those matters would be addressed separately.

Amendment 1, which strikes "Columbus Day" and inserts "Indigenous Peoples’ Day" (page 7, line 14 of the bill), was adopted on a voice/roll call with five aye votes. After brief questions and remarks from several aldermen thanking the Board of Elections staff for their work, Chair Spencer announced the committee had passed Board Bill 182 as amended with a due-pass recommendation.

Votes at a glance: - Amendment 1 (replace "Columbus Day" with "Indigenous Peoples’ Day"): Adopted, 5-0. - Board Bill 182 (pay bill for Board of Elections, includes 3% across-the-board increase): Passed committee as amended, due-pass recommendation, 5-0.

The committee did not record individual yea/nay roll-call votes in the transcript; members present and participating in the roll call and votes were Chair Spencer, Alderman Velasquez (sponsor), Alderman Boyd, Alderman Oldenburg, and Alderman Aldrich. The committee indicated the corrected fiscal note will be offered on the floor if necessary; no final citywide fiscal impact was adopted in committee action.