Several weeks after declining to appear before an aldermanic budget committee, the Board of Police Commissioners now looks set to receive a subpoena compelling their attendance.
The aldermanic Budget Committee is set to vote today on whether to issue the subpoena — an uncommon but not entirely unheard-of action for a committee of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.
“The goal is not to be confrontational at all,” says Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, who chairs the committee. “The goal is for them to present their FY27 budget. I don’t think they get a pass to not come.”
For the subpoena to move forward, Aldridge will need a majority vote from the five-member Budget Committee, along with approval from the president of the Board of Aldermen, currently Acting President Shane Cohn. (While Megan Green was at City Hall on Thursday, she remains on maternity leave.)
In recent weeks, virtually every other city agency has come before the Budget Committee to present its upcoming fiscal year budget. However, in late April, Commissioner Sonya Jenkins-Gray, who serves as the board’s government liaison, announced that the police would not be doing so, citing advice from their legal counsel. She pointed to the ongoing lawsuit the city has filed against the Police Board over its budget — the same suit that seeks to dissolve the state-appointed board altogether.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department budget has proven to be by far the most divisive of any department this year. The Police Board is requesting between $250 million and $270 million for the coming year, while Mayor Cara Spencer contends that, under state law, the appropriate allocation is approximately $219 million. Spencer filed suit against the Board in early April. Just last week, the Police Board launched its own legal action, asking a judge to order the city to allocate an additional $67.5 million for police before June 30. Every alderman, along with Green and the mayor, received summons related to that lawsuit last week.
Aldridge appears to have the votes needed to push the matter forward, provided Cohn does not object. Two other committee members told SLM on Friday that they would vote in favor, giving Aldridge a majority on the five-member panel.
On Friday, Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier expressed her strong support for the subpoena. Committee Vice Chair Michael Browning acknowledged that an attorney might reasonably advise a client facing a lawsuit to remain silent, but maintained that, regardless, “These asks that [the Police Board] is making are not connected to any actual real need.” He supports issuing the subpoena: “They’re sending us summons, and so I think it’s only appropriate that they come and talk to us.”
Alderman Matt Devoti, also a Budget Committee member and a practicing attorney, remained undecided as of Friday.
“I understand the want,” Devoti said. “It would be good to hear from the police.” That said, he noted he had only just learned the item had been placed on the committee’s agenda and was still weighing his decision.
Cohn, the acting aldermanic president whose sign-off is required before the subpoena can be issued, indicated he was on board as well. He spoke as he was leaving Friday’s full aldermanic meeting, summons from the Police Board in hand. He confirmed he was aware of the agenda item scheduled for Monday’s Budget Committee meeting.
“I’m aware,” he said. “And I will be signing.”
Aldridge said he remains flexible about which member or members of the five-person Police Board appear to present the budget. He emphasized, however, that whoever attends must be “prepared to talk certain line items — you know, ‘Why do you want a huge increase in this, why do you want a huge increase in that?'”
