ST. LOUIS — An extra $5 million for police overtime pay and $53 million in additional economic development efforts would be covered by a federal pandemic aid plan submitted Tuesday by Aldermanic President Lewis Reed.
The proposal, an alternative to the proposal announced June 15 by Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, is expected to go before an aldermanic committee Wednesday and the full Board of Aldermen on Friday.
In all, the $153 million package is almost double the $81.4 million plan outlined by the mayor, which was based largely on recommendations from a stimulus advisory panel she appointed.
Mary Goodman, Reed’s legislative director, said the vast majority of Jones’ proposals are in Reed’s bill. An exception was $5 million targeted by the mayor for lump-sum payments of up to $500 to some low-income and unemployed residents.
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Goodman and Alderman Jeffrey Boyd, chairman of the aldermanic panel reviewing the issue, noted that Jones’ office had yet to say how people would be selected for those payments.
“There was a lot of concern among members of the committee†at the lack of specifics, Goodman said.
Nick Dunne, a spokesman for Jones, complained that Reed’s proposal “takes $5 million in direct cash assistance right out of the pockets of ºüÀêÊÓƵ families.†He said the mayor’s team continues to review how other cities run such programs to see what method works best.
Meanwhile, Dunne said “we’re happy to see that most of our priorities are in there,†referring to Reed’s bill.
Among those are $3 million for efforts to step up COVID-19 vaccinations in the city, $12.4 million to help residents pay rent and utility bills and $2.5 million to cover mortgage payments.
The $5 million for police overtime that Reed wants added essentially would replace $4 million deleted at Jones’ request from police allocations in the city’s regular 2021-2022 city budget.
That budget, which shifted the funds to affordable housing, homeless services and other items, went into effect Thursday.
Some of the $4 million, earmarked for 98 long-vacant police officer positions that the city has been unable to fill, had instead been used over the years for overtime that exceeded amounts budgeted for that purpose.
Reed had voted against Jones’ budget shift because of the overtime issue.
Asked about Reed’s new police proposal, Dunne said only that the administration is reviewing the federal guidelines for the latest round of pandemic aid to see if it qualifies.
President Joe Biden last month said cities experiencing an increase in gun violence could use pandemic money to hire police “needed for community policing†and to pay their overtime.
Reed’s development package includes $20 million to a new citywide fund to renovate dilapidated or abandoned buildings and develop vacant land and $33 million to aid four commercial corridors on the north side.
The biggest outlay, $20 million, would aid efforts to revitalize Martin Luther King Drive. Similar initiatives along West Florissant and Natural Bridge avenues would get $5 million each and a North Grand Boulevard fund would get $3 million.
The money, Reed said, would provide grants to small businesses and economic development nonprofits and cover a percentage of total costs of business projects.
“It creates economic opportunity for areas of ºüÀêÊÓƵ that have been long neglected and gives our neighborhoods a chance to be stabilized,†Reed said.
Off-limits for homeless camps
While Reed’s bill includes $2 million Jones requested for “intentional encampments†for homeless people, it bars them from being located in 10 of the city’s 28 wards as requested by their individual aldermen.
The off-limits wards are 2, 3, 4, 5, 14, 16, 19, 21, 22 and 27.
The outdoor camps would be for people who won’t go to traditional shelters.
Reed’s bill also adds a conflict of interest provision that would prohibit any money from going to organizations with employees or board members on Jones’ stimulus advisory panel.
The city is set to get $517 million in federal money over two years under a plan passed by Congress earlier this year at Biden’s request, with about $249 million already received.
Jones wants to allocate $81.4 million of the $249 million for immediate direct relief for people and businesses hurt by the pandemic and take longer to review how to allocate the rest.
Mayoral aides, for example, have said an advisory committee with aldermanic input could be set up to review capital improvements that might get future funding.
Reed wants to allocate much more of the $249 million by July 16, when aldermen begin a two-month summer recess.
Reed’s proposal also would add:
• $15 million for a home repair program, going beyond the $2 million allocated by Jones for repairs and other services for senior citizens.
• $500,000 on expanding public Wi-Fi at city recreation centers, bus stations and other sites, on top of the $1.1 million allocated by Jones.
Reed and Jones both support using major portions of the federal aid for community health workers, behavioral health providers, community violence prevention programs, food assistance, youth jobs, youth basketball leagues and aiding small business.
The city Board of Estimate and Apportionment, the city’s top fiscal body, voted last week to endorse Jones’ version. If aldermen endorse Reed’s plan, the spending could end up in negotiations between the two boards.
This article was updated at 11 a.m. Wednesday.