“I knew they were high; I had no idea they’d be that high,” he said. His committee of municipal court players — which includes judges, lawyers and city attorneys — has been studying potential areas for reform, sharing some of the same ideas as Better Together, such as having public defenders take on municipal court cases.

“We’re trying to improve ourselves, and we’re taking a lot of heat from some of the good old boys,” he said.

Better Together calls itself a grass-roots project formed in November 2013 by Missouri Council for a Better Economy, a nonprofit backed in large part by retired financial executive Rex Sinquefield that also has advocated for consolidation of local governments.

In July, the group issued a report criticizing the inefficient and fragmented governments of the St. Louis region, with its 90 municipalities and 23 fire districts resulting in duplications of costs for services.

“Our goal is the same as with our past studies,” said Dave Leipholtz, director of community-based studies. “Shed light on how we do things right now and look at what we can do to improve things.”