St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and the members of the Board of Aldermen shepherding differing bills for how the city should spend $294 million in Rams settlement money have reached a tentative deal on a single piece of legislation.
The mayor, Ward 7 Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier, Ward 13 Alderwoman Pamela Boyd, Board of Aldermen President Megan Green and Greater St. Louis Inc. interim CEO Dustin Allison made the announcement together on Tuesday morning.
Jones called the changes to the bill a reflection of governing at its best.
“This new version of the bill reflects that every resident in St. Louis deserves to benefit from the settlement funds,” she said. “It also recognizes areas of our city that have a greater need and those that can spur greater investment from our private sector, and it puts greater emphasis on supporting and expanding our city workforce.”
This compromise bridges the remaining gaps between Sonnier’s proposed Transform STL Act and Boyd’s alternative and will be consolidated as the new Transform STL Act under Board Bill 153.
It includes:
- $40 million for improvements to citywide water infrastructure
- $40 million for improvements to citywide streets and sidewalks
- $50 million in targeted support for the city’s workforce including:
- A $30 million pilot program supporting city workers through cost-sharing of child care costs
- A $10 million pilot program supporting city workers with financial assistance for post-secondary training or educational opportunities
- $10 million for new and existing city employee training and education opportunities
- $35 million for production and preservation of housing across the city
- $15 million to support small business and nonprofit development across the city
- $40 million in targeted support for north St. Louis including improvements to streets and sidewalks, vacant property redevelopment, housing preservation and creation and small business support
- $74 million in targeted support for downtown St. Louis including:
- $30 million for streets and sidewalk improvements
- $11 million dedicated to the Railway Exchange Building
The road to reaching a combined bill has been rocky in some instances, starting with the press conference introducing Boyd’s original legislation that caught some board members and aides in the mayor's office by surprise.
Jones said the legislative process is sometimes just messy.
“This is part of that sausage making,” she said. “A lot of times you start at different ends of the spectrum and where you end is somewhere in the middle.”
Sonnier said she remained committed to finding common ground between the two proposals.
“We all have much more in common than we have apart; most of our visions are much more aligned,” she said. “We may have disagreements on exactly how to get there, but most of us agree that we want to land at a place where St. Louis can truly thrive.”
Boyd agreed, commending Sonnier for extending an “olive branch” and helping to facilitate the combination of the bills that still honored her priorities.
“[Sonnier] has shown that it can work in government for us to collaborate together,” she said. “To look at how we can come to a compromise and how we can make sure both sides win.”
Boyd explained the catalyst for her original proposal was to ensure parts of the city that have long been neglected would see tangible and substantive investment.
"Neighborhoods in north St. Louis and southeast St. Louis want to contribute to our city — with jobs with businesses with investment, but today there’s no way for us to do that,” she said. “I am most excited about this bill making a commitment to the future of my community. This agreement tells my constituents that they are not forgotten and the city is investing in them. That is priceless.”
The compromise builds consensus around investing in housing and business development, the city’s infrastructure and the people of St. Louis, Green added.
“I am confident that we are reviewing a proposed committee substitute that ensures the intent of residents in our city is being translated into effective outcomes,” she said, “and that the public’s feedback that they have given us throughout this process is seen in this bill.”
Specifics of the combined bill
Green also noted the amount of Rams money available for the city to allocate was about $17 million higher than listed in previous proposals by Boyd and Sonnier — a result of the interest accrued since the city’s original allotment from the settlement was invested.
The combined legislation will divide the total $294 million in settlement money into individual funds that will be administered by existing city departments instead of creating new boards to oversee the expenditures, Green said.
“At the request of alderpeople, we are working toward having departments develop their criteria for how these funds get out the door,” she said. “That can be done through their developmental process rather than boards that we often have a hard time staffing.”
The individual funds, set up by the comptroller should the legislation pass, will continue to generate interest and could also grow, said Casey Millburg, policy director for Jones.
“All the money is going to be able to generate interest, and all that interest is going to accrue to the specific fund,” she said.
The money earmarked for affordable child care and youth post-secondary opportunities are the only ones structured as endowments where only the interest accrued will be accessible for the development and deployment of new programming, Millburg said.
The combination of the bills also stipulates that citywide funds for things like housing, small businesses, nonprofits and water, streets and sidewalk infrastructure cannot be used for projects downtown because of the $74 million carve-out of dedicated downtown support. These funds also require a 1:1 match of private funds to be accessed.
"This new framework makes long-overdue investments in disinvested neighborhoods in north and southeast St. Louis to help strengthen and stabilize these communities and attract new residents,” said GSL’s Allison. “We will not grow if we do not address depopulation in north St. Louis. We will not grow if we do not revitalize downtown. Period.”
He added the compromise is a strong step to helping St. Louis grow again, especially with up to $100 million in private funds from Greater St. Louis Inc. investors that will match financial commitments from the city laid out in the combined legislation.
“Our investors look forward to identifying with the city opportunities to match the Rams funds that the city is contributing to downtown,” Allison said.
A single piece of legislation laying out how the city should allocate the settlement money emerged as a priority last week for Green, who is a sponsor of Sonnier’s legislation.
“We don’t need two bills fighting each other,” Green said. “We don’t need child care groups fighting against business groups. It is possible for us all to come together and rally around one bill.”
The board’s Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee will meet Thursday to consider the changes before it can send back a piece of legislation to the full board. Green said she hopes the revised legislation will be voted out of the committee this week.
Three full Board of Aldermen meetings are scheduled before the board breaks for the spring election season, but Green has said she can call extra sessions to get a measure passed before the break.
“There’s always the ability to call an additional board meeting midweek if, for some reason, we needed to do that,” she said. “I’m still optimistic that we’ll be able to get this done before we break for elections.”
