St. Louis Comptroller Darlene Green has won every single one of her eight elections, always running either unopposed or with just token opposition.
But this year, when she will mark 30 years in office, she’s facing former Alderwoman and state Rep. Donna Baringer and accounting firm owner Celeste Metcalf in the March 4 primary. The top two advance to the April 8 election.
“Thirty years is a good, round number,” Green said on the Politically Speaking podcast. “I know that the city still needs me as comptroller. We've got a lot of money when we think about the Rams dollars, when we think about the ARPA dollars that are yet to be spent, and we've got some nice round balances in our reserve accounts.”
Green was the city’s budget director in 1995 when Mayor Freeman Bosley appointed her to fill out the term of Virvus Jones, the current mayor’s father who went to prison for tax fraud.
Back then, the city’s credit rating was BBB - “junk bond status,” said Green. Now, one of the major credit rating agencies, Fitch, has boosted that to AA, with a stable outlook.
“That means the comptroller’s office is a well-run office,” Green said. “You just don't get an increase in a credit rating without having strong fiscal management in the office, and that's important.”
A higher credit rating makes it less expensive for the city to borrow money, Green said, which makes it easier for the city to grow and expand.
St. Louis has also been able to build up a rainy day fund of more than $150 million, which contributes to the higher credit rating.
North St. Louis grants
Last year, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a series of articles outlining problems with a program that dedicated $37 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to boost businesses in north St. Louis. Some of the businesses did not exist or were located outside of the city. Others had thousands in back taxes.
The problems persisted even after Mayor Tishaura Jones ordered a second look at the program.
Green’s office conducted a preliminary risk assessment of the program in late October after the articles were published. From the floor of the Board of Aldermen in late September, she urged the St. Louis Development Corporation, which was administering the grants, to “get it right.”
But Green said she could not have done more to prevent the problems because Jones did not ask her to be at the table when she tweaked the legislation authorizing the grants.
“We could not have been of any help because we weren't asked,” Green said. “And that's very important, because when you're asked to play a role, then of course, we would bring our whole professionalism to the table.”
Green said her professionalism has helped save the city money in other ways. When two inspectors working for the city’s building division came under scrutiny for alleged corruption, she immediately stopped any future payments to companies that were connected to the inspectors.
“This, after all, is a job that's about taxpayers dollars, and so that is what I think about,” she said “When you don't understand payouts, or when you don't understand what your job is, then you could be paying willy-nilly.”
That lack of experience if she is not reelected, Green said, is one of the biggest concerns she has about the city’s financial future.
Green has had her own problems in her office over the years. The police union accused her of failing to collect dues owed to the organization. There were long delays in paying bills.
Green blamed the problems on the transition to a digital accounting system.
“Time was taken for training and all of this, but it took a long time, and during that time, there was a lot of glitches, and there were failures in the office in terms of vendors being paid late and all of those things,” she said. “But to have an AA credit rating means that my office is run well.”
Green also said she is worried about maintaining the city’s tax base.
“The financial health of this city is determined by the tax base, and I want to see that grow, because as it continues to dwindle, then our taxes will dwindle as well, and the financial picture of the city will become less and less,” she said.
Editor’s note: Episodes of Politically Speaking with Donna Baringer and Celeste Metcalf will run this month.
