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St. Louis police board OKs raises for civilian staff, delays vote on commanders 13%
By Rachel Lippmann0%
6/3/2026, 7:43:03 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 17 faulty reasoning types, including Hasty Generalization, Recency Bias, and Self-Serving Bias, with False Dilemma as the most egregious example at 14.6% saturation with 81 hits. Analysis detected 564 faulty-reasoning hits from 554 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 29.4% and a BS Rank of 13% (18,579 of 21,176 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 87.70% of the article peer group.
The state-appointed board overseeing the St.
Louis Metropolitan Police Department has paused raises for the department's command staff.
The board voted 4-0 with one member voting present on Wednesday to take the vote at its June 17 meeting instead.
While the SLMPD budget for fiscal 2027 includes enough money for the raises, the police department is not responsible for funding the required equal raises for the St.
Louis Fire Department command staff.
The two-week pause is meant to give the city the chance to find the money in its budget to cover the cost, which still isn't known.
The police department raises are expected to cost $2.3 million.
The board did approve a 4% raise for the SLMPD's more than 300 civilian employees, which will take effect June 28.
There is no impact on the city’s budget because there are no civilian employees of the fire department.
All told, the raises are expected to cost the SLMPD about $2.3 million.
Although Mayor Cara Spencer was the one to ask for the delay, she said it was not an actual solution to the lack of communication from the department and the board about the raises.
“You’re only looking at how this impacts your budget,” she said.
“I have news for everyone here.
The police department doesn’t operate in a vacuum.
We’re part of a city, and if we don’t start working together and operating like we’re a city, we’re pitting the police department against the city that it pledges to serve.”
Spencer said at a media availability after the meeting that cuts to the city’s fiscal 2027 budget were almost guaranteed in an effort to make the numbers work.
“Those cuts have to be thought through, thoughtful and negotiated with the departments.
These are probably going to be cuts to city workers,” she said.
The mayor added that it was “not her desire” to use one-time funding sources such as the Rams settlement or reserve funds to cover what would be an ongoing expense, but she did not rule it out entirely.
Board of Police Commissioners President Chris Saracino said he appreciated the difficult spot the city was in.
“But our department can’t necessarily be held back because of that charter,” he said.
“We have an obligation to this department.”
Police Chief Robert Tracy suggested the time had come to review the pay parity provision, which applies only when police get raises.
“If the excuse to say you can’t make the St.
Louis Metropolitan Police Department competitive is because you have to pay the firemen, then find out a way to pay the firemen or change the rules,” he said.
Spencer, who had the backing of the union representing the city’s firefighters in her two campaigns for mayor, said she was currently focused on getting a balanced budget to the Board of Aldermen by July 1.
“Other considerations have not been considered at this time, and it’s most important that we get to the budget deadline,” she said.
With the adjustments that will be needed to fund the fire department raises, the Board of Aldermen will almost certainly have to call a special meeting to meet that deadline.
This story has been updated with comments from Mayor Cara Spencer and police officials.
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