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ST. LOUIS — A proposed tax hike for St. Louis Public Schools could help fund payroll after salary raises for managers and other non-teaching staff were delayed indefinitely.

The school district faces a $35 million operating budget deficit for 2024-25 after negotiating $32 million in staff raises last spring.

Angie Banks, chief financial adviser, will recommend clawing back the school board’s voluntary reduction of the 2022 tax rate when millions of pandemic relief funds flowed into the district, according to a meeting agenda for Tuesday.

The property tax increase would bring in an additional $6 million annually and would not require approval from city voters because it does not go above the school district’s maximum levy.

Financial anticipate operating revenues of $345 million and expenditures of $380 million for fiscal 2025.

“Planned deficit spending is OK as a short-term strategy,” Banks told the school board in May. “I don’t think it’s going to be as bad as it looks on paper.”

The record-high employee raises this year range from a minimum of 4% for all staff and up to 10% for special education teachers.

Friday’s paychecks for administrative staff did not include the raises because of “logistical issues,” according to an email to staff from Myra Berry, chief of human resources.

“To ensure we uphold our institutional values and the superintendent’s commitment to equity and excellence, we require more time to align our processes and procedures,” Berry wrote.

Local 420 of the American Federation of Teachers, the union that represents secretaries and other year-round staff who did not get their full paychecks, said it is pursuing an “appropriate remedy.”

“You will get every dollar negotiated and agreed to between management and your union,” reads a statement from the union.

The district’s previous tax rate of $4.25 per $100 of assessed property valuation was reduced in 2023 to $4.05 in “a fiscally responsible decision not to unnecessarily tax the citizenry during the (pandemic) funding timeframe,” according to the agenda item scheduled for discussion Tuesday. A vote on the tax resolution is expected at next month’s board meeting to meet the Sept. 30 deadline for reporting the district’s tax rate to the state.

The proposed tax hike is the latest development in a year of upheaval under Superintendent Keisha Scarlett, who previously worked as an administrator in Seattle Public Schools.

In April, SLPS submitted its annual financial audit three months late, causing a 1% reduction on its 2024 annual performance score that the state uses to determine accreditation levels.

Toni Cousins, president of the Board of Education, on Friday paused human resources transactions and called for an investigation of hiring practices after the new communications director said she intends to “float” between her home in Texas and a condo downtown. At least eight other top-level hires have ties to the Seattle area.

The board will also hear an update Tuesday on the transportation crisis that put SLPS in an “institutional tailspin,” Scarlett said in the spring.

Missouri Central, which was paid $26 million to provide 276 buses for SLPS last year, terminated its contract last month following poor performance reviews.

This year’s transportation plan will cost up to $40 million for 19 vendors that mainly consist of shuttle vans or rideshare apps.

The SLPS board has not approved any of the vendors’ contracts for the 2024-2025 school year, which starts Aug. 19. The district has also not provided any of the vendors’ proposals or contracts through a July 3 public records request from the Post-Dispatch.

About 1,000 high school students will be assigned to ride MetroBus public transportation to school, according to consultant Ashley Davies of Seattle-based Better Education Partners.

Patti Beck, spokeswoman for Bi-State Development, said she could not answer questions about the MetroBus arrangement “until those details are finalized.”