A group of St. Louis citizens says they have gathered enough signatures to prompt the state auditor to take a look at St. Louis's finances.
The group, Audit STL 2024 says they met with and presented these signatures to a representative from the Missouri State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick's office. One of the organizers, Andy Polacek says they have a number of financial concerns they want the auditor to take a look at.
"The water bill went up, is it going towards water?... We did a road bond, people don't feel like the roads are much better."
Polacek adds the handling of ARPA and Rams settlement money the city has received is also a concern. Emmitt Coleman played a role in gathering support form North City says the North City Grant Program was a motivation for many signees.
"What's the next step, where's the transparency, what's going on with the grants administered through SLDC," said Coleman, echoing what he says he's heard from fellow citizens.
Polacek tells KMOX they have also received support and even signatures from St. Louis City politicians.
"The majority of the Board of Aldermen has actually signed this... [Comptroller] Darlene Green has signed this, [Missouri Democratic Party Chair] Russ Carnahan has signed this." Polacek adds Aldermanic President Megan Green has not signed their petition.
Coleman says they aren't targeting anyone with this petition.
"We just want better governance. We want more transparency. As citizens, we are tax payers and we just want to be able to have access to better educate ourselves on how our tax dollars are spent."
Polacek shares what happens now that the petition and signatures have been handed over to the Auditor's office.
"[The Auditor's office] publishes it on their website, and there are ten days for folks to review it. From there it goes to the Board of Elections to verify the signatures."
Polacek is confident very few signatures will be struck, saying they have attorneys ready to litigate any issues that arise.