St. Louis County hosted its fourth and final budget town hall meeting June 29 at the Grant’s View Branch of the St. Louis County Library, 9700 Musick Road.

The event was led by Deputy Chief of Operations Kyle Klemp,  Deputy Chief of Communications Elizabeth Eisele, and St. Louis County Budget Director Paul Kreidler. About 30 community members attended, making it one of the larger town halls of the four the county held in June and July, giving county residents the opportunity to question and comment on the county budget.

The town hall began with Klemp and Eisele walking community members through the budget, which is facing a more than $40 million deficit. The pair explained that St. Louis County receives $493.2 million in revenue every year from sales, property, utility, and casino taxes, charges for service and licenses and permits, among other things. Unfortunately, these funds are not enough to support government services across the county. The county currently spends $537.1 million a year, $43.8 million more than they receive, on economic development and infrastructure, public health and human services, public safety, parks and recreation, general government and one-time projects. This is what’s known as an operating deficit.

It’s important to note St. Louis County has around $244 million in its fund balance, including money from the $169 million St. Louis Rams settlement, though those funds will quickly deplete if the structural deficit is not addressed.

“Let’s say you make $50,000 in one year, but maybe you have some medical expenses or some other unforeseen expense that makes the total amount you spent $60,000 that year. You could only do that for as long as you still have $10,000 in the savings account. We are in the same situation in St. Louis County – we need to address that structural deficit so we don’t keep taking money out of our savings account,” Klemp said.

One cause of this deficit is the lack of population growth across the county.

In 1970, St. Louis County’s population was 951,353. Fifty years later, this has increased by only 5.5%, with the 2020 population at 1,004,125.

Despite minimal population growth, thousands of acres of land have been developed as people have spread farther and farther across the county. This low density expansion leads to overall higher costs for local government because services must be provided to essentially the same number of people, but at an increased distance apart.

On top of this, the property tax rate for the county has not increased since 1984.

“You may be saying, ‘If that’s true, then why do my taxes continue to go up?’ Because at the end of the year, you write your check to the collector of revenue in St. Louis County… because St. Louis County is responsible for collecting taxes for all taxing jurisdictions, which includes school districts, community college, fire districts and municipalities. So when voters approve a tax increase in those taxing districts, that’s where you see your taxes increase,” Eisele explained.

The presenters stressed some of the county’s strengths prior to taking questions, such as being home to seven Fortune 500 companies.

During the question and answer period, residents asked about things from the marijuana tax to electric vehicle charging stations. A few inquired more about the Rams settlement, to which the presenters emphasized again that it is not a permanent solution for the deficit, rather a temporary fix, as it is a finite amount of money.

Another point of contention was Project Cornerstone, the plan to modernize or replace the Lawrence K. Roos Building, 41 S. Central Avenue in Clayton, with an upgraded facility. The building houses the main county government offices and the County Council chambers.

Some residents wondered if there would be a bond issue put to vote. According to Kreidler, it is too early to tell, but “at some point there most likely will be a question to the voters relating to Cornerstone.”