City officials examine how federal budget cuts, SLMPD changes may impact city budget
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) -ST. LOUIS — Newly elected Mayor Cara Spencer and Comptroller Donna Baringer participated in their first budget meeting Tuesday with the Board of Estimate and Apportionment.
During the meeting, the city’s budget director Paul Payne noted the city’s budget for the year was sound. But Spencer and others expressed concern about potential federal government cuts coming in the next year under the Trump istration and the Department of Government Efficiency.
Following the meeting, Spencer noted that more than $160 million in federal grants a range of city services, including housing and homeless assistance programs.
“It’s in flux, just like the tariffs,” Spencer said. “We’re making sure we know what’s coming down the pipeline. We’re looking at cuts across many many departments.”
Another issue the city is preparing for is the state takeover of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, signed into law in March.
The new state law mandates that 25% of the city’s general revenue be allocated to the police department, and requires 1,313 officers on staff. Former Mayor Tishaura Jones’ istration had estimated that the mandate would cost the city around $41 million.
Spencer explained that the city could meet many of the requirements by reworking personnel structures.
“We already spend a significant part of our general revenue on policing,” Spencer said during the meeting. “What we’ve done is pull out some of our departmental s like city counselor’s office, personnel, city employees in other departments focused on policing issues to make sure they’re ed for properly, but I’m confident we’ll meet those numbers.”
The law also requires the appointment of a state transition director to oversee the change. Police chief Robert Tracy said his department continues to operate as usual until further direction is provided.
“There’s a lot of things we need to talk about, that I’m involved in,” Tracy said. “We have a budget team that looks at this every year. We’ll be working with the istration.”
Gov. Kehoe is expected to announce a permanent transition director for the SLMPD takeover later this week.
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