St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and Board of Aldermen President Megan Green have released their plan to use around $277.2 million in Rams settlement money to bolster citywide services and infrastructure.
The legislation, called the Transform STL Act and filed this week by Ward 7 Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier, splits the money into six independent funds:
- $40 million for water infrastructure.
- $60 million for streets and sidewalks.
- $57.2 million endowment fund for children and families split between $37.2 million for affordable child care and $20 million for youth opportunities.
- $20 million for the city’s public workforce.
- $70 million for affordable housing.
- $30 million for neighborhood economic investment.
These seek to address three key areas for the city: people, development and infrastructure, Jones said.
“This is for everyone, whether they live in Dutchtown, downtown, north St. Louis, and everywhere in between,” she said. “This isn’t a zero-sum game. We don’t want to pick winners and losers. We want to make sure that these funds are available for every neighborhood and person that chooses to make a home here.”
Jones characterized the funding as a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity to transform the lives of all St. Louisans for years to come. The city was originally awarded $280 million, $30 million of which had to go to the convention center, from a 2021 settlement after the Rams football team moved to Los Angeles in 2016.
The city had invested the money in an account with the Missouri Securities Investment Program, where it has since grown to $277.2 million. The same philosophy is being applied to the newly proposed funding, Green said.
“To maximize the settlement’s reach and amplify its impact, each of these funds will be held in separate interest-bearing accounts,” she said. “As departments work to prioritize spending, these funds will continue to grow.”
The legislation lays out specific guidelines for how the city departments and boards, some of which will be brand-new, can and cannot spend the money. Many of the funds cap administrative costs at 5%, and some include provisions for matching funds or revolving loan programs.
“This funding structure gives city departments the dedicated capital needed to apply for matching grants and low-interest loan programs,” Green said. “In sum, we want to keep these funds growing and moving over time.”
The endowment fund for children and families functions differently and will only use returns generated by the principal to fund specific initiatives, like covering some of the cost of child care or expenses for public school students pursuing postsecondary educational opportunities.
Green said the investments will help the city tackle one of its most substantial challenges: population decline.
“The growth of our city depends on fostering a vibrant community where people want to live and work,” she said. “I believe this plan offers compelling incentives for families and individuals to start and build their lives in the city for the long term.”
The legislation aims to do this by prioritizing the funding and new initiatives for city employees, including the $20 million workforce fund.
“Our city is nothing without its people, and we want residents to grow up here and stay here,” Jones said. “We also want to boost our recruitment and retention efforts for city employees so we can improve those essential services that help make our government run.”
Jones clarified that funding won’t pay for raises for city workers though, because those costs could be unsustainable given the nature of these one-time funds.
For Sonnier, who led the committee of the whole process that reviewed various proposals for how to use the Rams money, the legislation reflects that public input and engagement process and represents a plan that touches all city residents.
“This bill is not against anybody. This bill is for the people,” she said. “We do not have to choose between this issue or that issue, and to do so is poor leadership.”
Diverging views of the funding
The mayor and board president also emphasized the collaborative spirit behind this proposal, which comes after a previous proposal for the funds put forward in November by Aldermen Pamela Boyd, Laura Keys, Cara Spencer and Tom Oldenburg sought to allocate $232 million of the Rams money for parts of north St. Louis, southeast St. Louis and downtown. That legislation was less clear about how it would spend that funding.
“This is a directional bill that really provides a direction path for how to invest these funds,” Spencer said when that legislation was introduced. “The specifics will be worked out.”
The bones of that legislation was the subject of a Committee of the Whole meeting by the Board of Aldermen in October and heavily advocated for by Greater St. Louis Inc., the regional organization that promotes business development.
It drew a pointed rebuke from Green, who said she was concerned that Greater St. Louis sought to circumvent the process for public input by “lobbying board members to introduce legislation on its behalf.”
“It demonstrates that [Greater St. Louis Inc.] sees itself and its interests above the many residents and stakeholder groups who spent months working with us in good faith to develop their ideas,” Green wrote in a November letter shared with media outlets. “[Greater St. Louis Inc.] is a stakeholder in this process but it is not the only one.”
Greater St. Louis Inc. responded with its own letter to Green, criticizing how the board president led the public process for gathering input and feedback on ideas for the Rams settlement money. The letter pushed back on Green’s stated preference of using the money for an endowment for the city, instead arguing St. Louis’ downtown was the city’s “true ‘endowment,’” citing the disparity between the revenue the neighborhood generates and its general expenditures.
“Downtown is in dire need of investment to retain the jobs and investment that produce that consistent return for the City as a whole. It would be reckless to allow the City’s economic engine to fall further into disrepair and neglect,” Greater St. Louis Inc. CEO Jason Hall said in his letter.
Hall is resigning from the organization to take the top job at the Columbus Partnership.
Interim Greater St. Louis Inc. CEO Dustin Allison said in a statement the organization has been steadfast in dedicating a portion of the Rams settlement money to make investments in disinvested neighborhoods in north and southeast St. Louis as well as downtown.
“We will review the bill that was filed through the lens of ensuring that those two priorities are met so that these funds are focused on catalyzing the long-term, sustainable, and equitable growth St. Louis and its residents need,” he said.
In his November letter, Hall also said the St. Louis business community would match any city investment of Rams dollars in downtown by “at least two-to-one.” It’s a commitment Hall had made more than a month earlier to the mayor’s office in an Oct. 4 letter obtained by St. Louis Public Radio.
“Details on where these matching funds would come from continue to be very sparse,” said Conner Kerrigan, a spokesman for the mayor's office. “What is unclear is whether that investment is only tied to the passage of this bill, which is a bill the mayor’s office does not support.”
Greater St. Louis Inc. told St. Louis Public Radio on Wednesday morning that the St. Louis business community had already announced $340 million in new investments in the past six months, and that it had committed to a 2:1 match with an additional and nonduplicative investment of $200 million intended to go toward real estate and improvements in public spaces downtown if the city were to commit $100 million from the Rams settlement.
Furthermore, the organization said that it had been discussing the proposal since October 2023 with Jones and members of the board.
“It is surprising that anyone would be caught off guard that this bill was filed,” a spokesperson for the organization wrote, adding, “it would be more surprising if this legislation was not filed.”
The rift between Green’s office and Greater St. Louis Inc. may be extending to the mayor’s office. Kerrigan said the office only became aware of the press conference by Boyd, Keys, Spencer and Oldenburg minutes before it started.
“Typically Greater St. Louis is such a closer partner with the mayor’s office, especially around downtown,” he said.
Kerrigan said the office will continue to work with the organization and praised its efforts to bring more people and energy downtown.
“We continuously have conversations with Greater St. Louis,” he said. “They’ve been a great partner, and we’re really grateful for that.”
Next steps
Sonnier’s bill will be formally introduced to the board on Friday. From there it will be referred to a committee and will still need a second reading, perfection and a third reading before final passage.
Green said her goal was to pass the bill before the board goes on break for primary and general election season next year.
“Part of the reason we’re moving forward and introducing this now is because we want to take the holiday recess to continue conversations with alderpeople, to continue soliciting feedback from the public,” she said. “The goal is to get this passed by mid-February.”
This story was updated to add additional comments from a Wednesday morning press conference and a statement from Greater St. Louis Inc.
