Tomorrow, the St. Louis County Council will unveil its proposed cuts to County Executive Sam Page’s proposed budget for next year. Those cuts are expected to include the county police, teeing up political attacks from Page to council members for cutting public safety money rather than tap Rams settlement funds to patch the county’s budget shortfall.
That shortfall, however, is a considerable one at $82 million out of a total proposed budget just shy of $1.1 billion. Late last month, the County Council’s budget coordinator, Chris Grahn-Howard, told members that if the fiscal status quo continues, the county could go broke by 2027. Both Page and the council agree that the shortfall is a serious problem—though the points of agreement pretty much end there.
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In an interview with SLM Thursday, Page said he has a plan to get the budget in shape long term after tapping the Rams money to make the numbers work in the short run.
Page is hoping to get an internet sales tax on the ballot in April. If approved, it’s estimated to bring in at least $45 million (and perhaps as much as $75 million) a year. He wants to use Rams settlement money to bridge the budget gap until new tax revenues begin arriving in October.
For that plan to work, however, it would have to clear several hurdles. First, at least four of the seven councilmembers would have to vote to put the measure to the same voters who rejected an internet sales tax in 2022. Page, however, says he thinks if the question were put to voters again things would go differently, given that voters this time would be choosing between the tax and cuts to government services.
It’s those potential cuts—particularily to police—that Page is using as a cudgel against his foes on the County Council. “I am surprised to hear people with conservative credentials talking about cutting the police. That is strange. And I’m not for that,” he told SLM.
Yet even Republicans on the council have floated the idea that county police will need to take a haircut. Councilman Mark Harder (R-7) recently floated the idea to the Post-Dispatch of reducing overtime and hiring civilians for desk jobs to minimize layoffs.
Page, however, warned that the public safety budget is “mostly personnel.”
The specifics of the council’s proposed cuts to Page’s budget are currently not known, and may not be known until they meet tomorrow evening. Several council members did not respond to messages seeking comment Friday.
County government watchdog Tom Sullivan is no Page apologist. It’s because of him the county executive is currently facing criminal charges. But he says he doesn’t know what to make of the County Council’s attitude on the budget. “They’re almost relishing the thought of cutting the budget. I don’t quite get it,” he says. “Several of them are up for re-election and Dennis Hancock is going to run for county executive.”
At a recent meeting of the council’s Budget Committee, Harder said that Page’s proposed budget was “kabuki.” “We’re coming up with our own budget of what’s realistic going forward,” he said. He added, “We’re going to have to break the eggs to make an omelet out of this thing.”
Another significant area expected to face cuts is county health services. Even Councilwoman Rita Heard Days (D-1) has voiced support for reducing spending in this area, despite two of the three county-run clinics operating in her district.
Page, for his part, says a long-term solution is already in motion. The county clinics have become federally qualified health centers, allowing them to recover between $6 million and $10 million more in annual reimbursement than in the past. Rams settlement money, he argues, would patch the budget until those revenues ramp up.
Page acknowledges that the county has a long-running structural budget problem dating back more than a decade, one that has been masked in recent years by ARPA and CARES Act funds from the federal government. That money has now dried up.
The county currently has around $100 million in Rams settlement money in reserves.
During last week’s interview, SLM asked Page whether the current budget woes might reignite conversation about a merger of the county and city (the city, after all, regularly runs a budget surplus).
“That’s a fascinating way to get to that question. I don’t know what to say to that,” he said.
He added, “We all recognize the advantages of fewer levels of government in our region—the economies of scale, the benefits of merging some services. We all see that… Every day, we’re looking for new ways to work together with the city.”
