CLAYTON, Mo. (First Alert 4) – Just over two weeks before the new year, the St. Louis County Council passed a budget, a task that proved more difficult this year due to the county facing a significant budget deficit and incoming raises for county police and employees.
Bạn đang xem: After senior tax freeze ‘threat,’ St. Louis County Council passes budgets, says more cuts coming next year
But employees say the raises are necessary.
“We’ve been grossly behind on the pay wages for some time,” said Octavia Brinkley.
Brinkley, who has worked in the St. Louis County Revenue Department for 10 years, said turnover is extremely high. She often ends up picking up the slack but isn’t being compensated properly.
“We just want everything to be fair and reflect what’s out there in the market,” said Brinkley.
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The St. Louis County Council passed a budget Tuesday that includes raises for Brinkley and other county workers.
“We have a serious budget issue in St. Louis County,” said Councilman Dennis Hancock.
The council passed the budget under serious financial stress. According to Chair Shalonda Webb, the county faces a $38 million budget shortfall due to increased costs and raises for employees. The council also cut many open positions, out-of-town training, and some health department requests.
They passed this budget without knowing exactly what was in it.
“None of us received these bills until probably less than 30 minutes after this started,” said Councilman Ernie Trakas.
The council had originally planned to vote on the budget next week, but County Executive Dr. Sam Page told members that if they didn’t pass it Tuesday, contracted in-person services for the senior tax freeze would be interrupted.
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“The vendor wants two weeks’ notice to know whether or not they’re going to be working on January first or not,” said Page.
“I’m really getting tired of the senior tax freeze being the go-to threat,” said Hancock.
Councilmembers expressed frustration about being put into what they called a corner, especially since no one in the room, including Page, could explain if the company could legally pull out if no budget was passed.
Ultimately, Page got his way. The budget was passed, and seniors can still go to the county building to apply for a tax freeze.
“I don’t want them to continue to call me and say, ‘I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,’” said Councilmember Rita Days.
Page and other councilmembers warned that next year could bring significant financial pain, including potential layoffs and heavy cuts. Page said he plans to launch a program soon to gather input from residents about what services they can and cannot live without.
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