What is Better Together? How much money could it save St. Louis? Is it just a bailout for the city?

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Neil Jamieson

What exactly is Better Together? The nonprofit was assembled in November 2013 to begin research on city and county public finances, economic development, public health and safety, parks, and more. On January 28, Better Together released a 160-page report detailing findings from a five-member city-county task force as well as how it would combine, through a constitutional amendment, the city and county into a new “metro city” with municipal districts replacing municipalities, one metro city mayor, one police department, one prosecutor, one municipal court system, and a 33-member council to eliminate duplicate spending and increase efficiency. Its board consists of 18 members, including  chairman emeritus, businessman, and former U.S. ambassador to Hungary George Herbert Walker III. Better Together needs 160,199 signatures to get the consolidation issue on the 2020 ballot—meaning that it will be put to a referendum, asking all Missourians to decide what happens in St. Louis. If it passes, St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger would become the new metro city mayor and wouldn’t face election until 2024. 

Why is the entire state voting on it? Dave Leipholtz, director of community-based studies for Better Together, says the call for a statewide vote has three reasons: (1) “The board of freeholders doesn’t allow you to supersede general Missouri laws or the Missouri Constitution. There was a general Missouri law that says that if you are a city of more than 400 people, you have to provide police. To consolidate police, you can’t do that that way.” (2) “In terms of the courts, they are governed and overseen by the Supreme Court and part of the state system. So to change that and how it interacts with the local government, you’d have to do an amendment.” (3) “We have 15 or so charter cities in St. Louis County, which get their authority directly from the state Constitution, so there’s a lot you can’t do with that as well.” 

Is there an alternative to Better Together’s plan? The Municipal League of Metro St. Louis is proposing the creation of a board of freeholders to decide how, and to what extent, the city and county should combine. Only the city and county would then vote on the board of freeholders’ proposed plans.

How much money might Better Together save? In late February, the organization released a fiscal analysis stating that its recommendations would create $40 million in new revenue for Missouri over 10 years, and save city and county taxpayers $250 million a year by 2026. As of press time, no entity had published a thorough analysis of Better Together’s fiscal plan, though one told St. Louis Magazine it was working to check the numbers. 

Isn’t Better Together’s plan just a bailout for the city? It’s a question Leipholtz says he hears a lot. The city’s debt for fiscal year 2018, including pension obligation, was $2,003,328. To address this, Better Together says, debts will stay within the municipal district in which they were incurred and be paid off with existing revenue and money collected within that district. No debt would transfer.

How would the Better Together plan affect the city’s earnings tax? The city collects a 1 percent earnings tax from city residents and non–city residents who work within city limits. That money—about $164 million—makes up one-third of the city’s budget. Under Better Together, the city’s earnings tax would be phased out by 10 percent annually; over 10 years, the money would be used to pay off the city’s debt and pension obligations, which the nonprofit predicts could be retired within seven years.

How will police departments be affected? According to Benjamin Granda, the media relations officer for the St. Louis County Police Department, there are about 54 police departments employing 949 commissioned officers and 302 staff members within the county. Each is an independent organization. Better Together’s plan would see the city and county police departments consolidated into one “accredited police department serving the entire area,” per the organization’s recommendations. Better Together found that St. Louis spends $468 million on policing, or $355.20 per capita—and that Indianapolis, Indiana,  for example, spends only $242 per capita. In its research, Better Together wrote that 75 percent of police departments in the St. Louis region were unaccredited. The St. Louis Area Police Chiefs Association has responded that now 90 percent of its agencies are either accredited or going through the process of achieving accreditation. In a paper titled “Law Enforcement: A Regional Approach,” St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar outlined his plan to leave the county municipal police forces intact but take over policing in the city and add 320 officers, totaling 2,654. John Hayden, chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, hasn’t commented on Better Together or Belmar’s proposals. He has previously said that he believes in cooperation between the city and county police. 

What role did the five-member task force play in putting together the proposal? The five members of Better Together’s city-county task force (pictured below), chosen with the endorsement of Mayor Lyda Krewson and Stenger, spent 18 months reviewing four years’ worth of Better Together’s research and data. Per the recommendation, they were tasked with understanding the “thoughts, concerns, and values of the St. Louis community related to regionalism and how these perspectives would impact any potential governmental reforms to improve cost and effectiveness to government services.” The recommendations state that more than 2,500 people contributed to the task force’s work through town halls, surveys, and other community events.  

How is Rex Sinquefield involved? The index fund pioneer is officially listed on Better Together’s website as a supporter alongside 124 other St. Louisans and businesses. Better Together is a project of the Missouri Council for a Better Economy, which is backed by Sinquefield. Marius Johnson-Malone of Better Together told St. Louis Public Radio that Sinquefield has not “been the driver behind this process or the work of the research.” Walker initially helped fund Better Together, Johnson-Malone said, and Sinquefield came on later. The five members of Better Together’s city-county task force say that Sinquefield has never talked to them about their work. Sinquefield has previously dipped a toe into the consolidation pool. In April 2011, he released a study claiming that $40 million could be saved annually by combining particular city and county programs. Sinquefield has fought to eliminate the city’s earning’s tax in years past. In 2016, he donated $1 million to a group devoted to phasing out the tax. Under Better Together’s proposal, the tax would be phased out over 10 years. SLM has reached out to Sinquefield.

Better Together’s City-County Task Force