STLPR0%
Judge rules St. Louis did not short the police department by $68M in current budget 12%
By Rachel Lippmann0%
6/2/2026, 2:04:21 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 18 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Framing Effect, and Halo Effect, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 12% saturation with 127 hits. Analysis detected 743 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,056 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 28.4% and a BS Rank of 12% (19,434 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 88.80% of the article peer group.
The City of St.
Louis will not have to give its police department an extra $68 million before June 30.
In a ruling handed down Tuesday, Circuit Judge Joan Moriarty wrote that Rams settlement funds and the city’s budget reserves should not be counted as revenue when determining the minimum funding for the St.
Louis Metropolitan Police Department.
“The Court finds that general revenue only includes current income of the fiscal year in question and does not include income from prior years,” she wrote.
Mayor Cara Spencer called it “a win for St.
Louis, for residents who rely on city services, and for common sense.”
“It is absurd to claim that city reserves and Rams funds are somehow current-year revenue, and I’m pleased and grateful that the courts have now ruled as much,” she said.
Board of Aldermen President Megan Green said the police board’s stance “isn’t only shameful — it’s indefensible.”
“Their inclination toward rushed, ill-informed decision-making and their unwillingness to consider the needs of the entire city are precisely why the city should continue to hold its ground,” she said.
Board of Police Commissioners President Chris Saracino said in a statement the board intended to appeal Moriarty’s decision.
“The St.
Louis Metropolitan Police Department continues to provide quality public safety services despite staffing shortages, heavy overtime demands, aging infrastructure, and ongoing recruitment and retention challenges.
Although we are disappointed in today’s ruling, we remain committed to our mission and to serving the people of the City of St.
Louis with professionalism and integrity,” he said.
Joe Steiger, business manager for the St.
Louis Police Officers Association, said in a statement that the focus should be on returning the department “to funding and staffing levels needed to provide the level of public safety this region expects and demands."
While the police budget has gone up every year, often by large percentages, the department has struggled, like others in the region, with recruitment and retention.
The 2025 law placing the SLMPD back under control of the state-appointed board also sets minimum funding requirements for the department — 22% of general revenue in 2026, increasing to 25% in 2028.
A suit filed by the board last month had argued the city improperly excluded Rams settlement and reserve funds from its general revenue calculation, in violation of a 1955 state Supreme Court ruling that defined general revenue as “all current income of the city, however derived, which is subject to appropriation for general public uses, as distinguished from special uses.”
That would have boosted the required spending in the 2026 budget to $257 million, while the city had allocated $189 million.
The board had asked Moriarty to force the city to give the department the additional $68 million before the end of the fiscal year on June 30.
But Moriarty wrote that the case the commissioners relied upon used the phrase “general revenue fund,” not “general revenue.”
She instead turned to a 1983 state Supreme Court case that defined revenue as the amount a city regularly collects over a set period of time for public use.
She agreed with the city that revenue is similar to income, which under general accounting principles can only be counted on a balance sheet once.
The evidence presented in court, she said, clearly showed both the Rams settlement funds and budget reserves had already been accounted for in years prior to 2026 and therefore could not also be counted in 2026.
The lawsuit over required funding levels is one of several ongoing legal fights about state control of the police department.
A judge in Cole County is weighing two cases: One, filed by activists, calls the state takeover an unconstitutional unfunded mandate while a second, filed by Green, argues the legislation that included the state takeover provisions violates constitutional requirements that bills cover a single subject and have a clear title.
A third case filed in St.
Louis by Spencer and members of the Board of Aldermen also calls the state takeover an unconstitutional unfunded mandate.
It’s still in early stages of litigation.
Command staff raises
While Moriarty’s ruling lays out the ground rules for calculating minimum funding levels for the department, it does not address resolutions approved by the Board of Police Commissioners that require the city to spend money.
The board will consider one such proposal on Wednesday.
Its members want to boost the salaries of command staff – lieutenants, captains, majors and deputy colonels – by up to 22%.
The board is also seeking raises of 4% for SLMPD’s civilian employees.
“Our commanders are responsible for leading complex investigations, managing patrol operations, mentoring officers, and making decisions that impact public safety every day,” said Chief Robert Tracy in a statement issued Monday.
“When experienced leaders leave, they take decades of institutional knowledge and leadership experience with them.
Retaining that talent is essential to building a stronger department and providing the level of service our community deserves.”
The raises would take effect July 1 and trigger equal raises for captains, battalion chiefs and deputy chiefs, as well as some dispatchers, at the St.
Louis Fire Department.
Pay parity does not apply to the fire department’s civilian employees.
The board says the raises for the SLMPD will cost the city $2.3 million.
The cost of the fire department raises was not immediately available.
The task of finding money for the raises in the fiscal 2027 budget will fall to the city’s Budget and Public Employees Committee, chaired by Alderman Rasheen Aldridge of the 14th Ward.
The last-minute changes, Aldridge said, throw a wrench in the process that must be completed by June 30.
His committee had to delay a vote to send the budget to the full Board of Aldermen in order to see what the police board decides.
“I say leave the police budget the way it is and let them figure out how they’re going to pay for it, but we can’t do that with the fire department,” he said.
Aldridge called the ongoing attempts by the board to force a larger and larger budget for the department “ludicrous."
“To be honest, I don’t think they understand what they’re trying to accomplish,” he said.
“I don’t think they have a short-term, mid-term, long-term plan.”
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.