St. Louis voters will weigh in on four issues that directly impact their day-to-day lives: vacant properties, affordable housing, street planning, and the process for funding city services.
Proposition B addresses that final point by giving residents influence over how their tax dollars are spent on city services and programs.
Specifically, Prop B updates the City’s yearly budget process to allow the Board of Aldermen to redistribute funding among city departments so long as the overall budget remains balanced.
The current budget process allows the Board of Aldermen to decrease funds designated for departments but doesn’t allow the Board to redistribute funds to better meet the needs of the city.
Imagine, after noticing you’re going out to eat too often, you decide to cut back so you can spend that money to pay down credit card debt, a car note, or a medical bill.
But instead of choosing to reduce that expense, someone outside of your home gets to make those decisions for you. It wouldn’t feel like you’re in control of your household budget.
In our experience, virtually no constituents have asked the Board of Aldermen only to reduce spending on vital city services and programs.
Rather, we consistently hear requests to reprioritize funds for services like trash removal, tree trimming, and road maintenance. Proposition B would give residents a say in how their tax dollars are prioritized among city services and programs.
Empowering the Board of Aldermen means empowering the people closest to the issues. The opposition’s claims that Proposition B will hurt the city’s credit rating is not true. The proposition clearly states that any increase in one part of the budget must be offset by reductions elsewhere, ensuring the overall budget remains balanced.
The City’s credit rating is primarily influenced by factors like the amount of money in the city’s reserve account. Because the board cannot increase the total size of the budget, our credit rating would remain unaffected.
Proposition B also maintains the mayor’s ability to protect the city’s financial health through line-item vetoes. Kansas City’s legislative body has the authority to balance its budget, and it has a higher credit rating than St. Louis, according to Moody’s—a company that determines credit ratings for governments. Prop B would align our budget process with virtually every other local government.
City voters will also choose on:
Prop S, which addresses the city’s shortage of affordable housing by charging short-term rental customers, like those who book through Airbnb and Vrbo, a 3% booking fee. Half of the revenue generated by that fee would go to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund—which subsidizes construction of affordable housing and funds non-profit organizations whose services reduce homelessness—and half would fund relocation assistance programs and legal services for tenants facing eviction.
Prop V supports development of affordable housing and neighborhood stabilization by charging owners of unoccupied, vacant properties higher penalties. The current $500 fine limit, set in 1970, does little to push landlords to invest in their properties.
Prop T creates a unified Department of Transportation to address the needs of all road users. Roadway responsibilities are currently divided among the Streets Department, the Board of Public Service, and the Planning and Urban Design Agency—meaning maintenance, safety, accessibility, and design decisions can be uncoordinated and slow-moving.
We have a meaningful opportunity to change how our local government tackles the issues closest to home. That, more than anything, is a reason to cast your ballot this year.
Megan Green is St. Louis Aldermanic president and Rasheen Aldridge is 14th Ward alderperson