St. Louis officials told the Board of Aldermen Budget and Public Employees Committee on Oct. 29 that the $30 million in Grama settlement interest designated for tornado recovery has been parceled into priority buckets but remains slow to arrive in residents' hands.

The recovery office said it has allocated roughly $12.5 million for resident supports, $10.5 million for housing, about $5.5 million for debris removal and roughly $1.07 million for recovery-office administration. Recovery staff reported that selection panels and contract awards have moved forward on about $23.65 million of that money, but the comptroller's accounting snapshot shows roughly $3.3 million has actually been paid to vendors.

Why it matters: Tens of thousands of residents were affected by the May tornado and city and recovery officials acknowledge the scale of need far exceeds the current funds. City and nonprofit leaders said contracting and invoice processing are the main bottlenecks slowing disbursement ahead of winter.

The recovery office's chief cost recovery officer, Jim Hill, told the committee the office has awarded contracts across several programs and "we have awarded contracts totaling 23,650,000.00" and that many awards are still in the execution phase. Hill said the recovery office expects a significant acceleration in the next 30 to 60 days as executed contracts move to invoice and payment stages. He added the office is "on track to have about $18,000,000 of reimbursement submitted by November," with about $13,000,000 submitted to date.

City accounting and procurement details. Deputy Comptroller Jason Fletcher said the comptroller's office's role centers on requisitions, purchase orders and invoice processing and that funds in the city accounting system differ from the recovery office's announced commitments. "The obligation column is what we currently have under contract," Fletcher said, and the accounting view shows about $8.8 million obligated and roughly $3.3 million paid from the $30 million RAMS fund; other commitments are still under negotiation or not yet entered as purchase orders.

Program-level progress and near-term priorities. Recovery staff outlined several program milestones:

- Resident supports: The recovery office contracted United Way to administer approximately $9.5 million of resident-support grants. United Way has paid roughly $1.4 million to about 28 nonprofits so far; additional awards are pending.

- Disaster case management: Contracts were awarded to Catholic Charities, Salvation Army, Lifewise and Hope to provide roughly 24 full-time-equivalent case managers at an estimated $2.4 million. Ten case managers are already working with tornado-impacted residents.

- Heating and winter shelters: A notice of funding availability (NOFA) for winter warming shelters closes the week of the meeting; awards will be made shortly thereafter, Hill said.

- Housing repairs: The Community Development Administration (CDA) reported four homes fully repaired, about 22 in process, and an RFP issued for home-repair construction management for $2.95 million (proposals due Nov. 10) intended to accelerate repairs and aim for about 60 to 80 homes with that contract. CDA Director Noel Pfeffer told the committee the city estimates "conservatively around 5,000 homes that need significant major home repairs" and that long-term home-repair needs could exceed $250 million.

- Vacant unit turns and rental assistance: The recovery office corrected a slide showing a NOFA originally listed at $1.25 million; CDA said the correct amount is $2.5 million to support vacant-unit turns. Approximately $2.575 million has been awarded for specific vacant-unit turn projects (Fox Manor, Homer G. Phillips, Parkview Apartments, Murphy Park) that are already under way; an additional $1 million has been set aside for deposit and rental assistance. CDA emphasized units opened through the vacant-turn program will be required to remain affordable for a five-year compliance period.

- Debris removal and private property work: Tetra Tech was selected to administer rights-of-entry and hazardous-structure assessments to support private-property debris removal; an intake center has received about 450 right-of-entry applications. Officials cited multiple funding sources for debris: FEMA public assistance reimbursements, an estimated $180 million in eligible FEMA/state support for private debris, and $100 million from Missouri Senate Bill 1 to cover private-property debris not eligible for FEMA.

Why payments lag. Hill and Fletcher described a two-part lag: first, there is time between selection/award and an executed, comptroller-signed purchase order (the recovery office said it often takes 30 to 60 days); second, work completion, invoicing and payment generate a further 30- to 60-day lag. The comptroller's office said an Oracle contracting module pilot is imminent and should reduce manual routing and signature delays.

Committee questions and oversight. Committee members pressed recovery staff and CDA about prioritization and scale. Alderman Devotee and others repeatedly asked what additional funding would be required; staff replied that substantially more federal, state and philanthropic resources will be necessary to meet the estimated repair and housing gaps. President of the Board of Aldermen Shelly Green said the board has approved ENA-level recommendations totaling roughly $15.7 million of the RAMS funds and pledged ongoing oversight and pressure to reform procurement timelines.

Public comment and community demands. Dozens of residents and community organizers urged immediate, direct deployment of funds to North St. Louis, criticized the pace of disbursement and pressed the committee to prioritize shelter, rental assistance and direct household aid over nonessential capital projects. Multiple speakers asked that the full RAMS/Grama settlement interest be allocated to North St. Louis recovery and warned of deaths or severe harm for people unable to heat or shelter this coming winter.

What the committee recorded as formal action. The committee approved minutes from the Sept. 25, 2025 meeting by a 4-0 vote; no other binding votes on RAMS spending were taken at this meeting.

Looking ahead. Recovery staff listed near-term priorities: finalize United Way allocations, award NOFAs and RFPs for warming centers, vacant-unit turns and home-repair construction management, continue rights-of-entry and debris-assessment work, and accelerate invoicing and reimbursement submissions. Officials said they expect materially more funds to move to paid status in the coming weeks as pending contracts are executed and invoices are processed.

Ending note. Committee members and residents agreed the pace must increase. Recovery staff and the comptroller's office repeatedly said they were implementing process reforms, while residents urged stronger, faster direct aid and closer community input on how dollars are spent.