The budget battle between Mayor Cara Spencer and the Board of Police Commissioners is officially a matter for the courts. The city today filed a lawsuit against the Police Board, its members, and the state of Missouri, arguing that the state takeover of the department is unconstitutional.
At a press conference, Spencer called the suit an essential step to prevent a financial crisis. The Police Board is seeking a budget for next year of somewhere between $250 and $270 million. Spencer argues that, according to state law, the budget allocation should be around $219 million. To allocate more than that, she said, would lead to layoffs across other city agencies.
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She said the lawsuit was the result of an “impossible impasse.”
The lawsuit says that the Police Board’s official demand of $250 million doesn’t include many functions previously included under the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s budget, which makes the true cost $277.8 million—which the suit says is a 38.9 percent increase from the prior fiscal year.
The board’s demand, the lawsuit argues, is “the archetypal unfunded mandate that Missouri courts have a constitutional duty to strike down.” The state’s Hancock Amendment, a law approved by voters in 1980 to rein in government taxation and spending, says that the state may not impose spending obligations without a corresponding appropriation of state funds, exactly what the city says it happening here.
The suit notes that the Police Board has also suggested the city could be on the hook for $333 million, arguing that Rams settlement funds should be included in its allocation. “I simply see no argument for that,” Spencer said yesterday, adding that if the Board were to take this money it would deplete the city’s coffers in a matter of a few years.
The suit also argues that the Police Board’s demands are “untethered to the fiscal realities” and would require the city to “implement mass layoffs of valued and integral City employees to compensate for the cost in a manner that would materially harm the public good and the City’s ability to provide essential services to its residents.”
Said Spencer at Thursday’s press conference, “To put this simply, this is money the city does not have.”
Aldermanic President Megan Green joined with then-Mayor Tishaura Jones to file suit against the law creating the state takeover on Jones’ final day as mayor. That suit rested in part on First Amendment grounds, and Spencer had suggested she believed the city would have a stronger legal challenge in state court, where this new lawsuit has now been filed. (The suit filed by Green was dismissed, but she later refiled in Cole County; a bench trial is set for May 7.)
“My intention here is to bring back the police department under the sweep of departments that are city controlled to work with our other departments to be one again with the City of St. Louis,” she said.
Asked if she planned to skip upcoming Police Board meetings, Spencer replied, “Of course not.”
In a press conference just a few hours later, Chris Saracino, president of the Police Board, said, “This issue will now properly be decided in the courtroom, a process we respect, and we will now allow the judicial system to do its job.”
He added: “Let me be clear. We stand by our $250 million expenditure request.” Saracino noted the SLMPD is a law enforcement agency “first and foremost” and they follow law “as it is written.”
Board attorney Chris Graville was asked if it would potentially be a good thing to have a judge weigh in on what level of funding for the police is required by state law. “The board has always sought clarity, in whatever format that is,” he said.
Commissioner Sonya Jenkins Gray said that, given the fact the board had a seemingly productive meeting with the mayor on Monday, this morning’s lawsuit came as something of a surprise.
“So, yes, it did catch us off guard,” she said.
Later on Thursday, Joe Steiger, business manager of the St. Louis Police Officers Association that serves as the bargaining unit for police officers, issued a statement says, “It is difficult for the men and women of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department to see their livelihoods reduced to numbers, ‘funky math,’ and litigation. The St. Louis Police Officers’ Association is disappointed that Mayor Spencer has pursued court action rather than collaborative solutions, a move that does not prioritize safety. Past political interference and mismanagement eroded morale, reduced staffing, and weakened operations, while state oversight has improved stability and retention. Public safety is the foundation of a thriving St. Louis, and we urge the mayor to support officers and avoid further division.”
Hear more about this story from Ryan Krull on The 314 Podcast.
Editor’s note: This story was updated after publication to include more information about Aldermanic President Megan Green’s lawsuit against state control of the St. Louis police as well as to correct the number regarding the mayor’s proposed budget for the police. We then updated the story again to include information from the Police Board’s subsequent press conference.
