On the eve of what looks to be another difficult budget season, the St. Paul City Council has added two new staffers to its central leadership team. Kumud Verma, previously the finance director for the city of Richfield, will serve as the council’s chief budget officer and Tim Greenfield, recently a nonpartisan attorney for the Minnesota Senate, will serve as its chief policy officer, a newly-created staff position for the council.
Kumud Verma. (Courtesy of the St. Paul City Council)
Both will report to Jay Willms, who was appointed director of council operations in April.
The two new staffers were selected “to strengthen the legislative body’s independent capacity to develop, analyze, and evaluate policy and budget decisions,” according to a statement from the council, which noted the council is a “co-equal branch of government” to the mayor’s office.
The two are joining council staff just weeks before St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter is expected to present his 2026 budget proposal in August. Given financial pressures like inflation, federal funding cuts and declining downtown property values, few expect smooth sailing.
Tim Greenfield. (Courtesy of the St. Paul City Council)
The city council ended last year in an unprecedented budget impasse with St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s office, which maintained that the council had given final approval to the proposed 2025 city budget too late, rendering moot their attempts to override the mayor’s $2.4 million in line-item vetoes of their budget changes.
The two rival budgets and property tax levies left in question for months which budget documents had actually prevailed.
In the end, the Office of Financial Services published the budget with the mayor’s preferred changes, but alongside the 5.9% property tax levy proposed by the council, rather than the 7.9% initially proposed by the mayor or his 6.9% compromise proposal.
Verma, who holds a master’s degree in finance from Delhi University, has served for more than two decades in the industry. She was finance director for the city of Richfield for nearly three years. Prior to that, she spent more than 17 years with the American Public Media Group and Minnesota Public Radio, most recently as manager of treasury operations.
Greenfield, who holds a law degree from Mitchell Hamline School of Law, has spent more than a decade at the Minnesota Legislature. He served as a nonpartisan attorney for the Minnesota Senate, supporting the Transportation Committee with legislative drafting, policy development and legal research.
The pair will join the council’s central staff leadership team, which includes Willms and city clerk Shari Moore, legislative hearing officer Marcia Moermond, licensing hearing officer Nhia Vang and Veronica Burt, who staffs the reparations commission and serves as a council legislative aide.
The council next week will consider adding additional staff, including a position related to communications.
Related Articles
Letters: Downtown St. Paul needs a municipal grocery
City asks: Why are St. Paul’s Green Line stations going offline during Yacht Club music festival?
St. Paul Ward 4 council race: Forums scheduled, endorsements roll in
Down to one board member and short on cash, St. Paul DFL goes on hiatus
Four candidates file for Ward 4 seat on the St. Paul City Council
Leave a Reply