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ST. LOUIS 鈥� A top aide to Mayor Tishaura O. Jones ruffled some feathers at the Board of Aldermen on Wednesday when she suggested lawmakers bore some responsibility for the city losing several hundred thousand dollars in marijuana tax revenue.

City operations director Nancy Cross acknowledged that her office didn鈥檛 file the necessary paperwork on time, and should have. But she said aldermen could have prevented the error, too.

鈥淓veryone missed this,鈥� Cross told an aldermanic committee on Wednesday.

The city is expected to miss out on more than $500,000 it was supposed to collect in the final three months of the year because officials forgot to file paperwork with the state to turn on the spigot.

And while it鈥檚 not exactly clear any one entity was to blame 鈥� the mayor鈥檚 office, the comptroller鈥檚 office and the Board of Elections have all handled paperwork for other taxes 鈥� a spokesman for Jones said last week that the mayor鈥檚 office took responsibility for the issue and fixed it almost immediately after it was discovered.

But on Wednesday, when aldermen at a committee hearing questioned how everyone dropped the ball, Cross said the board missed an opportunity, too.

Aldermen, she said, could have specifically tasked someone with filing the paperwork when they wrote the bill that put the tax on the April ballot. That would have helped, she said, because the relevant state law is vague, saying only that 鈥渢he governing body or official鈥� of a taxing entity must file paperwork.

Cross鈥� idea had precedent: In 2017, aldermen directed the city register鈥檚 office to file paperwork with the state on .

Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, of Downtown, said the board could do that in the future.

But he and his colleagues took umbrage at blaming the board for the current debacle. The board passes laws, he said, and it鈥檚 the administration鈥檚 job to administer them.

鈥淚t sounds like the board voted on (the tax), and moved it to the next channel, and somewhere in that next channel it got messed up,鈥� he said.

Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier, of Tower Grove East, said the same thing, and pilloried what she saw as poor leadership.

鈥淎ccountability is more important than placing blame and pointing (at someone else),鈥� she said.

Later, Alderwoman Anne Schweitzer, of Boulevard Heights, pointed out that it was a Board of Aldermen staffer who told the mayor鈥檚 office about the problem.

Cross pushed back, saying the mayor鈥檚 office took responsibility for the problem by fixing it earlier this month. And she repeated her concern that state law does not say which city official is responsible for providing legal notification of new local sales taxes.

鈥淭his isn鈥檛 necessarily on the mayor鈥檚 office to do this,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 unclear, so everyone is part of this issue.鈥�

She said the mayor鈥檚 office would remind aldermen to add a line to future sales tax legislation tasking someone with looping in the state. She suggested the comptroller鈥檚 office, which sets up the bank transfers from the state to the city.

But Alderwoman Cara Spencer, of Marine Villa, dismissed that. She said the administration should just put a policy in place making someone responsible.

Cross said the mayor鈥檚 office would do that. 鈥淲e will put a policy in place and we will notify you when that鈥檚 done,鈥� she said.

After the meeting, Jay Nelson, chief of staff to Aldermanic President Megan Green, said the president鈥檚 office is looking forward to the fix.

鈥淢oving forward there needs to be clear policies in place,鈥� Nelson wrote in a text message. 鈥淎nd we鈥檙e encouraged that the mayor鈥檚 office is taking those steps.鈥�