The St. Louis County Council on Tuesday approved a budget for 2024 that had more than $14 million cut from St. Louis County Executive Sam Page's proposal.
Page said the cuts will mean a reduction or elimination of some county services like sending tax bills through the mail and delay a property tax freeze for seniors. But backers of the plan say the cuts are necessary to get a gap between revenues and expenses under control.
Council members provided final approval of the bills that make up the roughly $1.01 billion budget. The majority of council members backed reductions to certain departments, including:
- $8.2 million for the Department of Health.
- $2.1 million for the Department of Public Works.
- $1.6 million for the Department of Administration.
- $904,000 to the Department of Revenue.
- $697,000 to the county executive鈥檚 office.
- $570,000 to the county counselor鈥檚 office.
Council members have sought to bridge a budget deficit of about $40 million that鈥檚 depleting the county鈥檚 reserves. Page spokesman Doug Moore said the general fund鈥檚 reserve will have about $65.5 million left if the cuts are fully implemented.
Councilman Dennis Hancock, R-Fenton, said, 鈥淲hile the proposed budget reductions are not as large as I personally would have hoped for, this budget represents the first step in what will be a long journey back to fiscal responsibility.鈥�
Page said in a letter to council members last week that the cuts will result in a slew of service reductions. He also said the cuts to the county executive鈥檚 office will place projects funded through the American Rescue Plan on hold 鈥渦ntil we determine we have appropriate staff to administer these projects in compliance with Treasury guidelines.鈥�
鈥淲ith this level of cuts, we simply cannot do everything we are doing now,鈥� Page said in a statement after the budget passed. 鈥淲e are in this together and I look forward to working with the council to find sustainable, new revenue streams.鈥�
Councilman Mark Harder, R-Ballwin, said he was disappointed by Page鈥檚 letter and contended the comments amounted to scare tactics.
鈥淚f we're going to make any kind of dent in this huge deficit in the next two to three years, we're going to have to make some really hard decisions,鈥� Harder said. 鈥淎nd this is an easy decision compared to what we're going to have to make in the years to come.鈥�
Council Chairwoman Shalonda Webb, D-St. Louis County, added that county policymakers should 鈥渟top trying to legislate with headlines and threats and cheap shots.鈥�
鈥淪t. Louis County residents don't have time for it. I don't have time for it,鈥� Webb said. 鈥淭he members of this council, most of us, don't have time for it. Because we're trying to move the needle and become solvent financially in the county.鈥�
The bill that doled out what鈥檚 known as the general fund that pays for significant portions of county government passed 6-1. Councilwoman Lisa Clancy, D-Maplewood, was the lone no vote.
鈥淲e are being asked to reduce the budgets in many of our county departments,鈥� Clancy said. 鈥淏ut we still have not addressed the disconnect between what all of us want to see in our communities and what we're willing to pay for in those communities. Our decisions here mean something 鈥� yet we seem unwilling to talk about the very real human consequences of those decisions.鈥�
She pointed out that a 鈥渕odest increase鈥� in taxes was stripped out of another budget bill.
鈥淚f we're going to have an honest conversation about what services we need to provide, we can't do so without also talking about how we will pay for those services,鈥� she said.
