ST. LOUIS — St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones on Friday approved a new bill that would increase pay for members of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen.
Board Bill No. 119 passed 15-8 in its third reading at the board’s regular meeting back in January, with one abstaining vote. It calls for doubling the pay for city aldermen from $37,400 to $72,000 per year.
The bill also gives an $800 increase to each alderman’s expense allowance, bringing it to $5,000 per member. The bill includes language that aldermen must work an average of 32 hours per week.
Proponents said in January the pay increase won’t cost the city any more money upon going into effect for the next group of aldermen who will be elected in April. That’s when a new redistricting map goes into effect cutting the number of city ward seats from 28 to 14.
Board of Aldermen President Megan Green, who supports the bill, said that board members have been underpaid for years, lagging behind other cities of similar size.
“Aldermen are going to be doing twice the jobs that they did before and so increasing the salaries, perhaps making it full-time, I think are common sense strategies,” Green told 5 On Your Side in November.
Jones said Friday afternoon that she “appreciates Green’s leadership and her efforts to prepare the board as it reduces from 28 members to 14 full-time members, and the mayor has allowed Board Bill 119—regarding aldermanic compensation—to go into law.”
Among those against the bill last month was Ward 23 Alderman Joe Vaccaro, who during January’s board meeting called the bill “flat wrong” and a “huge misjustice to all the workers in the city” who make less money.
In addition, the St. Louis Police Officers Association issued a statement last month opposing the bill.
“(The bill) is a slap in the face to every police officer as well as to every other St. Louis City employee,” the statement read.
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