Budget and Public Employees Committee Hearing – May 11, 2026
Budget and Public Employees Committee Hearing – May 11, 2026
The Budget and Public Employees Committee met on May 11, 2026, to review the FY27 fiscal year budgets for the Water Division, Collector of Revenue, Sheriff’s Office, Medical Examiner, and Information Technology Service Agency (ITSA). The hearing was chaired by Chair Alger, with Alderwoman Sonier, Vice Chair Browning, Alderwoman Velasquez, and Alderman Devotee present. The meeting lasted from approximately 9:00 AM to after 1:30 PM, including one recess. Key themes included the Water Division’s unsustainable budget and the urgent need for rate increases, the Collector of Revenue’s efficient operations, the Sheriff’s Office’s request for additional positions and equipment, the Medical Examiner’s stable budget, and ITSA’s modernisation efforts.
Discussion Items
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Water Division (Director Nirj Patel, Fiscal Manager Perla Burke, Special Assistant Spencer Gould): The director presented a detailed overview of the water utility’s enterprise fund operations, including 1,300 miles of water mains, 129 million gallons per day of production, and a $84.2 million balanced budget for FY27. The budget is balanced only by deferring $11.4 million in major projects, $3.8 million in non-capital equipment, and underfunding treatment chemicals (budgeted $9.6 million against anticipated $15.5 million) and electrical power. The reserve fund, previously built to $35–40 million, is fully depleted after seven years of deficits. The department projects $700 million in capital needs. A rate sufficiency study recommends a 40% initial increase followed by 6% increases for three years and 5% for two years to cover operations and a $440 million capital improvement program. The division has reduced vacancy from 26% to 23%, but expects $8.9 million in vacant position salary savings to partially offset shortfalls. The delinquent water balance peaked at $14.5 million in February 2026, currently declining. Only $300,000 of the $1 million ARPA assistance program has been disbursed. The director stated the budget is unsustainable and will require additional revenue, such as Rams settlement funds, to avoid cuts to emergency repairs. Alderman Devotee noted that emergency water main breaks cost over $20,000 each. A further discussion on the rate study is scheduled for May 13, 2026, before the Public Infrastructure and Utilities Committee.
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Collector of Revenue (Collector Greg Daly, Chief of Staff Mark Stoff, Assistant Collector Rachel McClure): The office is a fee-based county office with a fiscal year starting in March 2026. Total collections in FY ending March 1, 2026, were $978 million, including $545 million in real estate and personal property, $341 million in earnings/payroll, $72 million in water, and $16 million in trash fees. Excess commissions after operating expenses are estimated at $19.2 million for FY27. The office employs 86 full-time staff and 4 part-time, with starting salary rising to $42,848 after the new pay bill. The Real Estate Tax Assistance Fund (RETAF), a partnership, has saved 21 owner-occupied homes from tax sales, preserving $7 million in home equity. The water utility assistance program, administered with the Water Division and United Way, provides up to $500 per delinquent account. The collector is working to expand the Pay It St. Louis online payment platform to other city departments.
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Sheriff’s Office (Interim Sheriff John Hayden, Chief of Staff Jack Giesekee, Under Sheriff Colonel Yosef Yascherwallet): The FY27 budget includes a request for one additional full-time cashier due to a statutory transfer of fee collection from the circuit clerk. The most significant increase is in capital leases, rising from $160,000 to $307,500, attributable to a new five-year contract for Axon tasers (first installment $107,150) renegotiated from a previous $500,000 upfront commitment. The office is 31 deputies short, and overtime costs for hospital details have increased; an additional $50,000 is requested in overtime. The relationship with the CJC regarding hospital details is described as working, with the sheriff intending to present options for more efficient coverage, such as using hospital wards or fully staffing the infirmary. The office has 139 authorized deputy positions with 121 filled; sergeants and captains are also short.
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Medical Examiner (Director of Operations Tara Rick, Assistant Supervisor Jason Hutchins): The budget is driven by three large contracts: professional services for board-certified forensic pathologists, histology/toxicology (with St. Louis County laboratory), and livery/mortuary services ($450,000). The histology/toxicology request was lowered from $600,000 to $350,000 based on current spend. An increase in professional services from $10,000 to $87,124 covers a security guard from American Security, implemented in October 2025. The office does not have any vacancies. Approximately 3,300 cases were investigated in FY26, with over 1,100 autopsies. Staffing includes 23 full-time and 7 part-time. Alderwoman Sonier and Alderman Devotee commended the office’s work.
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ITSA (Director Cindy Reardon, Development Head Walker Hamilton): The FY27 budget includes $54.5 for personnel services, with three new data analytics positions transitioning from ARPA/tornado recovery funding to permanent posts as part of the city’s new CityStat program. A reorganization of network support services creates middle management positions to provide growth opportunities. Non-personnel highlights include completing Windows 11 upgrades, upgrading CityWorks (citizen service request software) to cloud-based Trimble Unity, and planning to decommission the mainframe in FY27 as remaining systems (earnings tax, license collector) have moved off. The Regis line item increased from $70,000 to $230,000 to contract for network support after losing a network services manager. ITSA recently launched the MyCity portal for citizen transactions and added online payment options for permits.
Key Outcomes
- The committee reviewed all department budgets but took no formal votes during this hearing. The meeting concluded with adjournment at approximately 1:35 PM.
- The Water Division presentation highlighted an unsustainable budget that will require either a rate increase or additional city funding to maintain services; the director noted that if no additional revenue arrives, the division may have to decide which water main breaks to leave un-repaired.
- The Sheriff’s Office will bring options for more efficient hospital details to the Board of Aldermen.
- ITSA will decommission the city’s mainframe in FY27 and continue migrating to cloud-based platforms.
- The next budget hearing is scheduled for May 12, 2026, at 9:30 AM, covering CEMA, BPS, Circuit Attorney’s Office, Neighborhood Stabilization, and CSB.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning. It is May the 11th, 938. This is a budget and public employees committee. Madam Clerk, please call the room. Alder Woman Sonier. Vice Chair Browning. Present. Alder Woman Velasquez. Alderman Devotee. Chair Alger. Here. Alder Woman Sonier. Audible Velasquez. Three present. With that, we have established a quorum. The next item of the agenda will be item number five, board bills for review, which would be Board Bill, which is a FY27 fiscal year budget for the city of St. Louis. We're going to skip over to committee discussions. We have no resolutions for review. And the first item today will be the water division, followed by the collector revenue, the sheriff office, a small break, medical examiner, and then we'll end the day with information technology service agency. So we'll get started and have our water department come on up, introduce themselves. Anyone else you have here from your team. We're pulling up the presentation, and then you can jump right into it. All right, good morning. Just make sure your mic is on, uh Director. Good morning. Uh Chair Aldridge and uh rest of the members of the committee. Uh my name is Nirj Patel. I'm the director of public public utilities. Uh with me today here I have Perla Burke, our fiscal manager, and Spencer Gould, our special assistant to the water commissioner. So we've got a presentation of our uh FY27 budget here. Um the water division as an enterprise, uh, you know, obviously has a little bit different uh take on the budget process, but internally we do get requests from all of our sections, and then the admin section, you know, uh hears the the budgets that have been presented by those operating sections, uh, you know, deliberates on on the funding that's available, makes cuts uh, you know, just like any budget process that uh is happening by another city department that is looking to get funded out of the general fund. So next slide, please. All right, so I always like to start with our mission is to provide safe, reliable, and economical drinking water service for all who live, work, and play in the city of St. Louis. Um, you know, our mission drives everything we do, uh, you know, and our our values, our vision are all tied into that mission. Next slide, please. Next slide. All right, so I mentioned that we're an enterprise fund of the city. Um, you know, what that means is that you know our accounts cannot touch the accounts of other city departments. Um, you know, the general fund is not accessible to us, but we do operate on the fees that we charge, the revenues that we have as an enterprise uh to do the services that we do uh to meet our mission. Um, we cannot actually take money from the general fund. Um, and as such, that all of our revenues are dedicated to the mission uh of providing safe, reliable economical water. Uh there are no profits. Uh, you know, all of the the revenues go right back into the cost to operate the system. Next slide, please. So that system that we have, uh, you know, it it does cover you know approximately 65 miles of St. Louis. Uh, you know, we have over 90,000 service connections that are active, uh, over 20,000 valves, over 15,000 fire hydrants, and over 1,300 miles of water mains. Uh, we do operate uh on pressure zones in the city.
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