ST. LOUIS — The City of St. Louis is once again hiring all "non-essential" city positions after Mayor Tishaura Jones announced the end of the hiring freeze she enacted at the end of March.
The end of the freeze comes after the adjournment of the Missouri General Assembly on Friday, which Jones worried would enact legislation that would affect the city’s ability to collect an earnings tax.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: St. Louis hiring freeze ordered by Mayor Jones
“The City of St. Louis is safer and healthier without the harmful interference of members of our state legislature who do not represent our City or its best interests," Jones said. "Our essential services and workers remain funded by our earnings tax.”
Jones originally cited two bills as "very real and present threats to [city] revenue," and the reason for implementing the hiring freeze for all non-essential employees:
- HB 1516: A state bill that would reduce the city's earnings tax for remote workers, a move Jones said would cost the city around $109 million per year.
- BB 146: A city bill that would return control of the city's firefighter pension board to firefighter interests. The city Board of Aldermen previously passed the bill, but Jones vetoed it, saying it would have "drastic consequences" for the city's budget. The board overrode that veto on Friday, just over an hour after Jones announced the hiring freeze.
The hiring freeze did not affect "essential" city employees, including police officers, 911 operators, sanitation workers, water division workers or airport hires, according to Jones' office.
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