ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – St. Louis County prosecutors are being warned of a budget crisis.
A prosecutor’s office internal email reveals the budget manager warning staff, stating in part, “supplies cannot be ordered by any department….we are out of envelopes and paper…I just paid the last phone bill that can be paid this year…I have to invoices from REJIS that cannot be paid.”
REJIS is law enforcement’s crime database.
St. Louis County Prosecutor’s Office Spokesman Chris King agreed to explain the reason for the email we obtained, saying, “Well, here’s the problem: the State of Missouri owes us about $54,000.”
King alleges the Missouri Department of Revenue is months behind on reimbursing prosecutors for their work on holding delinquent taxpayers accountable. The State of Missouri is blaming a software glitch, King noted.
“The state is late in paying us to prosecute taxpayers who are late in paying them. These are delinquent tax cases. We did our job, and we’re waiting to get paid,” he said. “We checked with them at the close of business yesterday, and we were told that towards the end of this week, they should have a new system up where they can remit these payments.”
FOX 2 also caught up with Wesley Bell about this, and he praised the budget manager for her strong email.
“I wouldn’t even say raised the alarm. Our budget manager, just like the rest of the men and women of this office, does their jobs. If there’s a problem, there’s something we need to know; we expect our folks to let us know and speak up—and that’s exactly what we’ve come to expect,” he said.
King added, “She’s very good at her job, and the person who pays your bills, you want them to be proactive, not complacent.”
The apparent glitch is impacting prosecutors’ offices statewide, FOX 2 confirmed.
The Missouri Department of Revenue, meanwhile, has not responded to our phone calls nor our emails, asking for their response.