Included in the cuts was a $4.8 million reduction from what Stenger had requested for the police department.

The cut represented 50 police positions that council members claim Police Chief Jon Belmar had said he would not fill next year; the chief has denied saying that. Belmar told the council in a letter that the cut would prevent the county from its plan to deploy patrols in two-officer cars. That was a central piece of the department’s plan for using funds raised from the Proposition P public-safety tax approved by county voters last year.

The cut brought out dozens of St. Louis County police officers to the council chambers. Deputy Chief Kenneth Gregory told the council that officers JoAnn Liscombe, who was slain in 1992, and Blake Snyder, killed in 2016, would probably be alive if they had been riding with partners.

Matt Crecilius, business manager for the St. Louis County Police Association, told the council the two-officer cars were central to the plans for Prop P funds and vital to the safety of officers and the public. “You owe it to the victims of violent crime, you owe it to the officers on the street, and you owe it to the voters who passed Prop P,” he said.