The state-run board governing the St. Louis Metropolitan Police is poised to give a sizable raise to police officers—another 7 percent bump, just one year after the last. The board appears to have forged the deal behind closed doors Monday, with no notice to the public, on a day when the city was largely brought to a standstill by historic snows.
City officials say they have deep concerns about the size of the raises, which must still be ratified by both officers and the police board. Budget director Paul Payne says the increase would likely cost $13.3 million annually, when the city only budgets $10 million a year for pay increases for all city workers.
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Mayor Cara Spencer also says she’s concerned that the raises are being offered before the city has even prepared a budget for the next fiscal year.
“I think it’s clear that we need to give our city workforce a raise, and that includes our police department. That’s clear. But these decisions shouldn’t be made in a vacuum,” she says. “The police department gets a budget. And it is my view that the police commission should not be determining new expenditures without understanding what the budget for next year looks like.
“These things should be looked at holistically,” she continues. “Otherwise, I think the police department is running a risk of backing itself into not being able to give the same amount of raises to its other workers, including its lieutenants and civilians.”
Spencer was also concerned that the board was ready to greenlight the raises without any sense of the long-term fiscal impact. “I was shocked that we were considering a matter that didn’t have a fiscal note, despite my pleas to have fiscal notes attached to every matter that the police board is considering,” she tells SLM. (Payne confirms he has not seen a fiscal estimate either, although a spokesman for the police department stresses that their own budget director was consulted.)
Says Payne, “I don’t think that the board is necessarily doing its due diligence when it takes these things up.”
An agenda for the board of police commissioners’ meeting on Monday does not mention a vote on a collective bargaining agreement, saying only that the board would “vote to enter executive session following adjournment” to discuss, among other matters, “preparation, including any discussions or work product, on behalf of a public governmental body or its representatives for negotiations with employee groups.” There were no reporters present at the meeting, which took place on a day when City Hall was closed and the mayor’s office had urged people to stay home.
Joe Steiger, business manager for the St. Louis Police Officers Association, said union leaders are pleased with the tentative agreement: “We’re happy with it.” He stressed that the deal needs to be approved by members, and said he couldn’t discuss any further details at this time.
An announcement on the union’s website said members would discuss the plan at a meeting this evening, with further sessions scheduled for Thursday evening and Friday morning. “A ratification vote will be held according to the rules established by the Executive Board,” the announcement said. Details for the vote will be determined at the executive board meeting today.
Police commissioner Chris Saracino did not respond to a message left at his business, while commissioners Sonya Jenkins-Gray and Bradley Artega referred calls to a departmental spokesman. That spokesman, Mitch McCoy, provided a statement Wednesday morning stressing how underpaid the police department is. “In one of the last studies conducted ranked SLMPD pay near the bottom of 35 other departments in our area,” he wrote. He also added, “Our officers worked doing the snow storm—they answered nearly 1,000 calls for service and didn’t get a day off. The board is no exception. The collective bargaining agreement expires Friday. This was a top priority for the board.”
Under the city charter, firefighters are entitled to parity with city police officers, so any bump to police triggers a much bigger financial burden than if the department alone were affected. Raises to rank-and-file officers also trigger the need to better compensate their supervisors, lest jobs with more responsibilities end up with lower compensation than entry-level ones.
Police officers and sergeants received a 7 percent raise last January under a deal struck with the city prior to the state takeover, increasing starting salaries to $56,920 upon graduation from the police academy. That collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of this month.
Last year’s state takeover of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department has brought with it significant financial costs. It mandated that the city spend 25 percent of its general revenue on policing. That was publicly discussed at the time of the bill’s being signed into law last March.
But other costs are only coming to light nearly a year later.
Earlier this month, the Post-Dispatch reported that a provision in the bill required the department to again provide lifetime health insurance for officers after they leave the force, a perk the department stopped providing officers hired after 2013 and one that other big departments don’t offer. Payne suggests that requirement could add another $29 million to existing liabilities, with another $6.6 million this year—and more to come.
According to the Post, the benefit cost the department $12 million a year, in 2004 dollars.
Editor’s note: This story was updated around 7:30 a.m. to include a statement from a police spokesman.
Hear more about this story from Krull on The 314 Podcast.
