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Residents urge aldermen to reject police budget increase, press for Right to Counsel, tornado recovery and Code Blue funding
Summary
More than two dozen residents told the Board of Aldermen budget committee to reject proposed increases to the SLMPD budget, called for full funding of Right to Counsel, Code Blue and North City tornado recovery, and criticized the Board of Police Commissioners and a state takeover; committee members said subpoenas will compel the police board to appear before amendments are considered.
More than two dozen residents and community advocates urged the St. Louis Board of Aldermen Budget and Public Employees Committee on May 20 to reject proposed increases to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department budget and to reallocate funds to housing recovery, eviction defense and violence‑prevention programs.
Speakers repeatedly named three funding priorities: fully funding the municipality’s Right to Counsel program, restoring or expanding Code Blue emergency housing, and directing RAMS/Rams recovery funds to North City tornado recovery. "The city should not give the police a budget of over 200 million dollars," said Mitchell Geg (4th Ward), who criticized a recent downtown shooting and called for funding the Office of Violence Prevention and Right to Counsel. Several speakers referenced recent police killings and pending lawsuits against the police department and Board of Police Commissioners.
Community demands and claims: speakers characterized SLMPD as disproportionately lethal and accused the police of cooperating with federal immigration enforcement; those are allegations voiced by multiple commenters during the hearing. "SLMPD does not deserve a single penny more than they are legally allowed," said Tila Barnett Gajewski (7th Ward), who said North City needs recovery and reinvestment rather than increased policing. Audrey Kidwell (6th Ward) thanked Board leadership and Payne for suing to preserve local control of the police department and urged reallocating the proposed $25 million police increase to Code Blue ($1.5M–$2M gap reported by speakers), Right to Counsel (speakers sought $1.5M–$2.5M additional funding) and the Office of Violence Prevention (speakers cited a $4.1M funding gap).
Committee response and next steps: committee members thanked speakers and acknowledged the significance of the lawsuits over the state police takeover. Alderman Browning and Alderwoman Velasquez said subpoenas have been issued to the Board of Police Commissioners to compel their appearance before the committee next week, and the committee will review amendments then. "We will be looking at this and ... these lawsuits are there to figure out how much we have to spend legally," Vice Chair Browning said.
What residents brought forward: testimony also raised transparency and procurement questions unrelated to policing (examples included recurring large line items in the building division and data‑center approvals), and economic development priorities such as support for entrepreneurship programs.
Ending: public comment closed after the last speaker; the committee indicated it will hear further testimony on May 27 and consider amendments next week before finalizing the Board’s position.
