The St. Louis County Council has unveiled its plan to close an $81 million gap in the county’s budget for next year.
The council’s plan eliminates more than 300 positions that had been vacant for 12 months or more. Out-of-town travel and training are also off the table for 2026.
“It is unfortunate that we are where we are now, but we have decided that we have to be the leaders in the room and we have to take this budget seriously,” Council Chairwoman Rita Heard Days, D-Bel Nor, said Monday.
The budget does not include the drastic cuts that had been rumored for weeks. The council worked with departments to go through their budgets line by line and eventually settled on a few general areas of reduction, said Budget Committee Chairwoman Shalonda Webb, D-Black Jack.
The council, Webb said, looked closely at how much departments had spent from their budgets over the past several years.
“On average, they were spending 10% less than what was given to them,” she said. “When you have an $81 million deficit, every penny counts.”
All told, the council cut about $49 million from County Executive Sam Page’s requested budgets. Third Ward Councilman Dennis Hancock, R-Fenton, said those changes will not affect services. Most departments, he said, will get at least the same amount of funding they did in 2025.
“I liken it to when a kid comes to his mother and says, ‘Mom, can I have six cookies?’ And mom says, ‘No, you can have three,’” Hancock said. “Has she cut the number of cookies or has she cut the request?”
The budget does not include any tax increases, but council members are considering other ways to generate revenue, such as increasing the cost of policing contracts with municipalities. They will also spend about $16 million from the settlement over the Rams leaving for Los Angeles.
A spokesman for Page said he had not seen the new legislation but added in a text: “We need more police, not less. We need more access to health care, not less. We need more funding for roadwork, not less.”
Page’s budget had used reserves and Rams settlement funds to close the whole gap. He also planned to push the council to place an online sales tax in front of voters.
The council plans to use a legislative maneuver Tuesday afternoon to introduce its version of the budget, something that only requires four votes. That would tee the bills up for final passage at the same meeting, which is scheduled to be the last for 2025.
Page’s lone ally on the council, Lisa Clancy of the 5th District, wrote in a Facebook post that she was troubled by the lack of time for public input on the proposed reductions.
“I can say plainly: There’s no secret stash of excess waiting to be cut,” wrote Clancy, D-Maplewood. “What’s left on the chopping block are the services that keep our communities safe, healthy, and connected. Gutting them without a public conversation isn’t just bad policy — it’s undemocratic.”
While there is some dispute over whether Page can veto appropriations bills, the council has the votes to override.
