CLAYTON, Mo. – A St. Louis County councilman wants action following a FOX 2 report on an alleged overpaid auditor. Councilman Ernie Trakas wants the government watchdog fired if she doesn’t return the money.
“It’s either abject negligence or malfeasance, so, in my opinion, either way she needs to resign or be terminated,” Trakas said. He believes there should be no delay from St. Louis County Auditor Toni Jackson in returning to taxpayers a $10,000 overpayment.
“It’s not negotiable. The money must be returned,” he said.
On Tuesday, FOX 2 reported on the overpayment discovery, which we found discussed in emails with the auditor, payroll, and human resources, The cause was reportedly traced to Councilwomen Rita Heard Days and Shalonda Webb, who’d awarded raises.
But the council never approved those raises. Other council members, including Trakas, say they didn’t even know about those raises until this week.
“I found out through your reporting. At a minimum, as I said, the council is the appointing authority,” he said. “The council, because of that position, is the authority to approve a raise or not.”
Councilwoman Days will only say that it’s a personnel issue. Councilwoman Webb has not answered multiple requests for comment. We’ve made personal visits to try to get a response from auditor Jackson every day this week. Monday, a representative said she wasn’t in the office. Tuesday we were told she wasn’t coming into the office. And Wednesday, a representative told us auditor Jackson was not in the office.
“She certainly hasn’t responded to the council as a whole in any way shape or form that I’m aware of,” Trakas said.
Jackson has made few public appearances, besides a November 2023 budget meeting when she answered challenges about the number of audits performed.
“It’s a bottleneck everywhere we go. You know how the county works. We work in silos,” she said at the time.
Councilman Trakas says he’s appreciative of the whistleblower who caught the issue, which resulted in the auditor’s pay being corrected to the council-approved $119,995.
“That’s what keeps government, at any level, where it should be and, thankfully, in this instance, it was caught before any more monies were paid,” he said.
