ST. LOUIS—The process to decide how the city of St. Louis will spend its share of the settlement with the NFL has entered a new stage, with the Board of Aldermen identifying seven potential broad themes for using $250 million that has been collecting interest.
A non-binding resolution introduced by Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier calls for a focus on solving seven “priority challenges”:
Attracting and retaining city workers
Increasing public safety
Improving city finances
Upgrading water infrastructure
Increasing access to affordable childcare
Improving community mobility
Catalyzing downtown reinvestment
A website dedicated to taking in potential ideas for using the money has now broken those ideas within the seven larger-themed buckets, while still being open to new ideas. Submitted concepts include updated street infrastructure, increased wages for city employees, establishing a Redevelopment Loan Fund or a Municipal Endowment.
The Board of Aldermen has already hosted two “Committee of the Whole” meetings to take public testimony on the process.
A third meeting is scheduled for Saturday Dec. 2 at 11 a.m. via Zoom.
Unlike the influx of federal COVID funding in recent years, there is no deadline for spending the city’s share of the NFL settlement. St. Louis County has not shared details of the process it plans to use to spend the $169 million it received in the settlement, which has also been collecting interest.