is ratcheting up pressure on Jefferson City to relinquish control of the city's police department, or pay for it themselves.
St. Louis Mayor says he expects the Missouri legislature to return control of city police department this year.
If not, the Mayor says St. Louis is within its rights to bill the for part of the cost of running it.
"There are several options that we have and one of them is to send the state a bill for $100-plus million saying, 'this your department, state, you can pay it.'" - Francis Slay
Slay says a 1980 amendment to the state constitution, called the , bars the legislature from passing mandates to local governments without funding.
The move is opposed by the which claims that city control might jeopardize police officer pensions.
