St. Louis aldermen served subpoenas on police commissioners today after the commissioners failed to appear before the city’s Budget Committee to explain a proposed police budget that city officials say could financially strain the city.
The unusual move escalates a growing fight between the city’s elected leaders and the state-controlled St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners over how much money the police department should receive next year.
“The goal is not to be confrontational at all,” Aldridge said Tuesday. “The goal is for them to present their FY27 budget. I don’t think they get a pass to not come.”
At the center of the dispute is a proposed police budget estimated at between $250 million and $270 million — potentially tens of millions more than what Mayor Cara Spencer says the city can afford. Spencer has argued state law limits the allocation to about $219 million.
The Board of Aldermen’s Budget Committee approved the subpoenas Tuesday after no police commissioners attended a scheduled budget meeting. Aldermen said the subpoenas were intended to force commissioners to appear publicly and answer questions about the spending request.
Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, a Democrat from St. Louis who represents the 14th Ward and chairs the Budget Committee, said the issue was accountability.
“The goal is not to be confrontational at all,” Aldridge said Tuesday. “The goal is for them to present their FY27 budget. I don’t think they get a pass to not come.”
Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier, a Democrat from St. Louis who represents the 7th Ward and serves on the committee, said police leaders should be held to the same standard as other city departments that must publicly defend their budgets.
“We think it’s necessary because the folk who want to make decisions on hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars come before the taxpayers to speak and explain their request to them, as every other department the city funds does,” Sonnier said.
Acting Board President Shane Cohn, who approved the subpoenas while Board President Megan Green remains on maternity leave, said the decision was straightforward.
“I think entities that are using local taxpayer dollars should be obliged to come before the Board of Aldermen to explain their budget,” Cohn said.
He called it “extremely unfortunate” that the police board had refused to participate in discussions about “a budget that works for all citizens.”
Neither the mayor’s office nor Chris Graville, acting counsel and lead attorney for the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners, immediately returned phone calls seeking comment.
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.