ST. LOUIS — City officials are setting aside millions of dollars in federal pandemic aid to pay court judgments in the wake of one of
the city’s largest courtroom losses in recent memory . A proposed budget for next year, unveiled Wednesday, puts $10.3 million in interest earned on the pandemic aid into a judgment fund, which already gets $6 million per year from elsewhere in the budget. Budget Director Paul Payne, who put together the proposal, said the line item wasn’t for any particular case. But it follows closely behind a federal jury’s decision in January to award nearly $19 million to the family of Mansur Ball-Bey, who was killed by St. Louis police a decade ago. The city counselor’s office previously indicated plans to appeal that case under Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, who left office April 15. And newly elected Mayor Cara Spencer declined Wednesday to comment on whether she would change course.
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But in recent months, some activists have urged against that, and it became a topic of interest at a mayoral campaign forum in February, where Recorder of Deeds Michael Butler said the city should just pay the bill. And the number of officials in agreement is growing. On Wednesday, Aldermanic President Megan Green said Butler had a point. “I don’t know that an appeal will result in anything different,” she said. “We should likely just go through with paying the settlement and avoid spending any more legal fees.” Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, of downtown, said the same thing. “We need to give the family justice,” he said, “and move on.” Javad Khazaeli, an attorney for Ball-Bey’s parents, declined comment. But the city’s debt continues to grow: The judgment is currently accruing roughly $65,000 in interest per month. The judgment cash marked one of a few shifts in the fiscal 2026 spending blueprint, which Budget Director Paul Payne presented Wednesday afternoon to the city’s Estimate Board, composed of Spencer, Aldermanic President Megan Green and Comptroller Donna Baringer. The proposed $1.4 billion budget is about 5% larger than it was last year. But Payne said that’s due in large part to last year's surge in pandemic-era earnings tax refunds coming to an end, and the use of interest on the pandemic aid. The city is projecting only modest bumps in new earnings and sales tax proceeds in the coming year as the city braces for uncertainty amid looming federal spending cuts and tariff-fueled trade wars. “This is about as close as you can get to a recession forecast without having a recession,” Payne told officials. The budget does include money for the raises approved for police, firefighters and other city employees in recent months, which will add about $23 million in annual costs. And it sets aside another $10 million that could pay for further salary increases as the city works to tackle stubborn staffing shortages blamed for problems
picking up trash ,
filling potholes ,
trimming trees and
towing cars . The blueprint also foresees putting $11 million, including nearly $7 million in federal pandemic aid interest, toward repairs of the city’s court buildings. Both the Carnahan Courthouse and the Civil Courts Building, on Market Street downtown, are nearly 100 years old and badly in need of maintenance. The money will help pay to repair the Civil Courts Building’s weathered facade, fix broken steps at the Carnahan Courthouse, modernize courtrooms and replace an array of aging of electrical, water and heating and air conditioning equipment. It will also pay for new windows at the juvenile court building on Vandeventer Avenue. The Estimate Board will hold a virtual public hearing on the budget at 1 p.m. Friday, and is scheduled to vote on the budget next week. Once the budget is approved by the Estimate Board, it will move to the Board of Aldermen for further consideration.
Protocol when it comes to police shootings in St. Louis varies in almost every case.
Father of Mansur Ball-Bey names city, former chief Dotson and two officers as defendants.
Mansur Ball-Bey, 18, was shot by police who said he pointed a gun at them while fleeing a raid.
The protest at issue in the suit followed the fatal police shooting of Mansur Ball-Bey on Aug. 19, 2015.
The department did not publicly release the findings of its Force Investigative Unit.
Mansur Ball-Bey, 18, ran from a back yard through a gangway to a front yard before collapsing, police said.
Funeral services for Mansur Ball-Bey have been set for Saturday.
The Circuit Attorney's office will conduct a simultaneous investigation separate from the police inquiry.
Police Chief Sam Dotson urges calm and says it's too early to weigh in on whether the shooting was justified because the facts are still developing.
