St. Louis County voters removed a decades-old transparency rule on Tuesday, Aug. 4, approving Proposition C with 63% of the vote and eliminating the charter requirement that salary increases for top county officials be proposed at least 10 months before an election.

The measure passed 147,863 to 86,368, according to unofficial results from the Call Newspapers. A total of 234,231 votes were cast on the question.

What Changed

Under the old St. Louis County Charter language, Section 2.180(1) required that compensation for elected officials be fixed at least 10 months before an election and could not be increased or diminished during their term. That provision is now gone.

Prop C replaces the 10-month rule with language tied to the Missouri Constitution, which does not include the same advance-notice window. The amendment also adjusts when certain elected officials' terms formally begin and end.

Why It Matters Locally

The change affects how the county executive, county assessor and other top officials are compensated. For Chesterfield, Wildwood and Ellisville residents who rely on county-provided police, road and other services, the governance structure that sets those officials' pay now has fewer built-in checkpoints.

The practical effect: the St. Louis County Council could now propose a salary increase for an incoming county executive or assessor without waiting for the 10-month window to open. That scenario nearly played out earlier this year. In February, County Executive Sam Page vetoed two bills that would have raised the county executive's salary from $140,000 to $195,000 and the assessor's salary from $95,000 to $150,000, citing the 10-month rule as the reason the bills were invalid.

With that rule now removed from the charter, a future council would face no such timing constraint.

Contested Framing

The measure drew sharp disagreement over what it actually did. St. Louis County Council Chair Rita Heard Days, who supported Prop C, characterized it on Aug. 3 as a simple housekeeping fix that clarifies when council members' terms begin and end, bringing the charter into compliance with the Missouri Constitution.

Taxpayer advocate Tom Sullivan disagreed. Before the election, he argued the ballot language was misleading: "What it does is it eliminates the safeguards that are in the county charter that require 10 months' advance notice before you can propose any salary increase for some of the top county officials," Sullivan told Fox 2.

What's Next

The Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election will determine who becomes the next St. Louis County executive. Jake Zimmerman won the Democratic primary on Aug. 4 and will face Republican Dennis Hancock and Green Party candidate JD McFarland. The winner takes office Jan. 5, 2027. Under the newly amended charter, salary changes for that incoming executive could be proposed without the old 10-month advance-notice window.