ST. LOUIS 鈥 Comptroller Darlene Green is asking the mayor to keep voters from weighing in on a change that would shift budget power from Green鈥檚 office to the Board of Aldermen, claiming the process to consider the ballot measure 鈥渓acks transparency鈥 and would hurt the city鈥檚 credit rating.
But the sponsor of , Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, called the letter Green sent to Mayor Tishaura O. Jones and shared publicly on Wednesday 鈥渂izarre鈥 and 鈥渕isleading.鈥
Aldermen have followed their normal process, Aldridge said, holding committee hearings and a public debate and vote. If passed, the bill would only send the question to voters in November, who would have to approve it with a 60% majority.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 fearmongering,鈥 Aldridge said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 completely un-factual. We had two committee hearings on it, it hasn鈥檛 been rushed.鈥
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Green鈥檚 missive is her latest attack on proposals to change the St. 亚洲无码 charter that threaten to weaken the office she has held since 1995. For the last year, a special commission tasked by city voters to review the city鈥檚 charter has been meeting to mull changes to the city鈥檚 110-year-old governing document. It sent its recommendations along to the Board of Aldermen this week, but not before dropping a proposal to eliminate Green鈥檚 office in the wake of outcry from the comptroller and her supporters.
Instead, the charter commission recommended a more modest change that would give aldermen the power most city councils and state legislatures already have 鈥 the right to propose spending decisions. Right now, aldermen can only propose decreases in existing budget items, and even then they can be ignored. The budget process is largely controlled by the city鈥檚 board of Estimate and Apportionment, a three-member panel made up of the mayor, comptroller and aldermanic president.
鈥淲e are the exception, I think, to a lot of city government structures,鈥 said Alderwoman Daniela Vel谩zquez at a June committee hearing on the ballot proposal.
Aldermen have always had the right to send charter amendments to the voters, and Aldridge sponsored the bill asking voters to give aldermen more say on the budget in anticipation of the charter commission鈥檚 recommendation. But he said it鈥檚 something he鈥檚 been thinking about since he moved from the Missouri House, where he helped craft the state budget, to the Board of Aldermen.
鈥淭he power really lies all within E&A, and a lot of members of the Board of Aldermen really feel like we鈥檙e just a rubber stamp for the budget,鈥 Aldridge said. 鈥淲hat we鈥檙e trying to do is say, 鈥榟ey, we want to be part of the process.鈥欌
But Green, who did not respond to a request for an interview, urged the mayor to veto the measure before voters could weigh in, arguing the change would reduce collaboration and create 鈥渁 more disagreeable budget process.鈥
鈥淭his bill could damage the city鈥檚 credit and costs taxpayers more in borrowing,鈥 Green wrote.
Green鈥檚 letter also included correspondence from two airlines in 2019 about an airport bond refinancing that year, which Green pointed to as evidence they don鈥檛 want to pay more in borrowing costs.
Aldridge wasn鈥檛 sure what that had to do with the policy.
鈥淭his letter makes absolutely no sense at all,鈥 Aldridge said.
But in response to her claim that letting the aldermen get involved in budgeting would hurt the city鈥檚 credit, he pointed to language he added that would require any increases aldermen added to the budget to be offset with decreases elsewhere. It also bars changes to spending items needed to pay the city鈥檚 debt or other required obligations. He also noted that the comptroller would still have significant say in the process because E&A would keep the power to propose the initial budget.
Aldridge argued aldermen should be more involved because they are most familiar with the desires of city residents.
鈥淲e are really the boots on the ground in the community,鈥 Aldridge said. 鈥淲e are the ones who get the calls.鈥
The mayor could still veto any aldermanic budget changes, forcing a supermajority of aldermen to get behind any controversial proposals. And if aldermen don鈥檛 approve budget recommendations by the July 1 start of the fiscal year, the E&A budget would go into effect, just as the process works now, Aldridge said.
Since aldermen would gain some power under the measure, the change may be one of the most consequential of the charter commission鈥檚 recommendations to make it through the Board of Aldermen. Aldermen at their June 28 meeting already endorsed sending the measure to voters on a 14-1 vote. If that holds, it would be enough to override a veto from Mayor Jones, who has come out against most of the charter commission鈥檚 proposals.
Green appeared to believe aldermen had already sent the measure to Jones鈥 office, but Aldridge said he planned to delay a final vote on the bill Friday to make some editing so it is similar to the charter commission鈥檚 recommended language. The bill could come up for a final vote after aldermen return from their summer break in August, he said.
In an email Thursday, Green doubled down that her opposition to the bill making its way through the board since May was about 鈥渢ransparency.鈥 She appeared to suggest that aldermen should hold the bill until after a planned aldermanic hearing July 23 to discuss the charter commission鈥檚 recommendations.
鈥淭he lapse in transparency speaks for itself given that the proposed (board bill) charter change will not go before the public on July 23,鈥 she wrote.