As City of St. Louis leaders work to crack the budget code, it seems that neighborhoods will take the brunt of cut backs needed to close the City’s $46 million deficit.
On April 21, Mayor Francis G. Slay proposed to take away $6.1 million from the funds that aldermen use to make neighborhood improvements. He also proposed to cut 174 jobs.
Under the new budget, residents would pay $8 a month for trash pickup, which would raise $10 million a year. Of that, $3 million would go towards recycling and enforcement.
Slay’s plan was presented at the Board of Estimate and Apportionment meeting on April 21. The board will now discuss it and then send its decision to the Board of Aldermen. The approval process must be completed by June.
The general operating budget for 2010 was $453.9 million, and it’s estimated to be $450 million for 2011. What ties the hands of City leaders every year are the increasing pensions for public safety employees, Slay said. Last year pension costs were $61.5 million, and 2011 costs are estimated at $74.5 million. In 2008, it was $31.9 million.
Rather than cutting $46 million from the budget, Paul Payne, the City’s budget development director, explained that the mayor’s proposal suggests rearranging some funds and increasing fees.
The plan includes cutting $20 million from the budget through employee furloughs and job cuts. New fees will raise $17.6 million, largely through fees for trash pickup, emergency medical services and recreation centers.
Finally, the mayor proposes to take $11.5 million in local tax appropriations for the wards, major parks and recreation centers, and put it towards the general fund.
About 75 percent of the general fund goes towards compensation costs, and $257 million of that goes to public safety employees. The police department has the highest number of employees for the City, though it is administered by a board of gubernatorial appointees that includes the mayor.
The City jail will take a hit, losing 28 staff positions. Payne explained that the jails population is down because criminal court judges are pushing pending cases through more quickly.
In the wards, the aldermen work with neighborhood stabilization officers to address issues concerning the community. As part of the proposal, six of these officers will lose their positions.
The Board of Aldermen’s Ways and Means Committee will meet in the next few weeks to discuss the budget.
21st Ward Alderman Antonio D. French, who serves on the committee, said the board’s black caucus would wait until the budget is introduced as a board bill, possibly as early as Friday, before they would comment.