More than 1,300 tickets were issued and 351 cars were towed from designated “night plow” routes on the first night of St. Paul’s 96-hour snow emergency, which began at 9 p.m. Sunday.

That’s an average to slightly above-average amount of ticketing and towing for a St. Paul snow emergency, but the first winter storm of the season is always a learning experience — or perhaps a refresher course — for many residents. On top of that, some of the city’s alert systems kicked in a few hours later than usual.

St. Paul Public Works informs residents that a snow emergency is in effect through a variety of platforms, from social media blasts on sites such as X, previously known as Twitter, to emails and text alerts in multiple languages, an online parking map, a recorded line, local news media and, new in recent months, outgoing voice messages. Not all of those systems rolled out without a kink on Sunday.

A problem with a third-party vendor slowed text alerts for hours, sending out 66,000 text messages on a staggered basis.

“Some went out right away, some trickled out,” said Lisa Hiebert, a spokesperson for St. Paul Public Works.

The snow emergency was declared at about 12:30 p.m. and some 64,000 emails launched soon after, but by 2 p.m. only about half of the text alerts had been distributed. Still, “all the text messages went out by 6 p.m.,” Hiebert said, giving recipients several hours to move their cars.

Another issue — possibly but not necessarily tied to the cyber-security incident that crippled city systems for weeks this summer — left Public Works scrambling to change the message on a recorded line — 651-266-PLOW — that residents can call for updated snow emergency information. That message was not changed until 6 p.m., despite the best efforts of communications staff, Hiebert said.

“We had a little glitch with the voicemail message and being able to access that,” she said.

New and existing platforms

The city added a new phone service about a year ago that sends recorded snow emergency messages to 150,000 phone numbers culled from public records. The Everbridge Resident Connect service sends the voice recordings to landlines and mobile numbers using “open sources” registered in St. Paul, Hiebert said. Everbridge is distinct from the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) used by FEMA.

“It’s just one of many, many ways people can get the status update,” Hiebert said. “Signing up for email and text alerts is the best, but residents can also check out the snow emergency parking map, check our socials.” More information is online at StPaul.gov/snow.

Snow emergencies last 96 hours. After clearing major arterial streets and other designated night plow routes on Sunday night, city snow plows concentrated on residential streets during daytime hours on Monday. Given the amount of ice build-up, Hiebert said the city will salt residential streets — which is not usually the case — and return to trouble spots through Thursday evening, including areas that were inaccessible because of cars that had not been moved.

In the latter stages of a snow emergency, parking is allowed only in areas that have been plowed to the curb. Vehicles parked in unplowed areas may be subject to ticketing and towing. “It’s pretty obvious with windrows when cars haven’t moved,” Hiebert said.

Residents concerned about an abandoned vehicle blocking snowplow access can call Ramsey County’s non-emergency dispatch number — 651-291-1111 — or fill out an online form at StPaul.gov/SnowTicketing.

Minneapolis also declared a snow emergency on Sunday, after a winter storm that began Friday finished dropping about 5 inches of snow throughout the Twin Cities.

Hiebert’s advice to new residents?

“If you’re going out of town and you park on the street, make sure you always leave your keys with someone trusted, because we do ticket and tow,” she said.

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St. Paul Public Schools is planning on reducing its annual levy by 2% this year as part of its 2026 budget.

To get details on the district’s budget for the coming year residents can attend the SPPS truth in taxation hearing at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the district administration building at 360 Colborne St. Tom Sager, the district’s executive chief of financial services, will present details on the levy for taxes payable in 2026.

Prior to voter approval of a special levy increase in the Nov. 4 elections, the school board in September set the annual property tax levy at 2% less than the one a year ago. District officials have attributed the reduction largely to changes in how the state factors costs for retiree health insurance, pensions, severance and unemployment payments, which reduced overall expenses for SPPS.

The levy amount for the 2026-2027 school year is $216.48 million, or about 2% less than the previous year. It is expected to be certified by the board Dec. 16.

In the past five levy cycles, the district’s total levy has increased approximately 3.5 percent per year on average, according to district officials.

Levy referendum

In November voters approved a special school levy referendum to increase property taxes in order to provide additional funding for the district for the next ten years.

The referendum received approval from 65% of voters, increasing the district’s general revenue by $1,073 per pupil for 10 years, beginning with taxes payable in 2026. The 10-year tax is subject to increase with inflation.

Voters approved similar referendums in 2018, 2012 and 2006. The 2018 levy referendum gave the district $1,180 per student, or $18.6 million per year plus inflation, in new revenue.

District funding

General fund revenue makes up around 76% of the school district’s budget.

Here’s a listing of previous general fund totals for the district by year:

• 2015-2016: $562.2 million.

• 2016-2017: $561.1 million.

• 2017-2018: $561.3 million.

• 2018-2019: $590.7 million.

• 2019-2020: $624.3 million.

• 2020-2021: $632.2 million.

• 2021-2022: $703.7 million.

• 2022-2023: $719.27 million.

• 2023-2024: $801.1 million.

• 2024-2025: $749 million.

• 2025-2026: $767 million.

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Property taxes make up 21.56% of total district revenue and total property taxes per student in the district is $5,914. Total property taxes per student in Minneapolis Public Schools is $7,804, according to SPPS.

Four men were shot and wounded in St. Paul’s Dayton’s Bluff area Monday afternoon.

Police responded to the area of Fourth and Earl streets shortly after 4:30 p.m. due to multiple reports of shots fired. Officers found two men at the intersection and another two behind a residence in the 1000 block of East Fourth Street.

The four men sustained non-life threatening injuries and were taken to the hospital by St. Paul Fire Department medics, said Nikki Muehlhausen, a police spokesperson.

“Investigators are working to determine who the shooter or shooters were, but we do not believe there is any threat to public safety,” she said.

Officers, K-9s and drone teams were searching the area for any additional victims and to collect evidence as of early Monday evening.

The investigation into the shooting is ongoing.

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An open house is scheduled Wednesday so people can learn about the Lake Elmo Avenue and 10th Street North intersection improvement project, Washington County officials said.

The open house will be from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3 at the Oak-Land Middle School cafeteria, 820 Manning Ave. N., Lake Elmo.

The intersection improvement project, being done in partnership with the city of Lake Elmo, aims to improve intersection control, manage highway drainage and improve pedestrian and bicycle facilities.

No formal presentation will be given at the open house. People at the open house can learn about the project’s design progress, review proposed design alternatives and meet the project team. In addition, people can provide feedback and share ideas for the project. Material shared at the event will also be online through Jan. 2.

Project updates will be posted on the project website at WashingtonCountyMN.gov/County10and17. For more information, contact Project Manager Erin Blaylock at 651-430-4384 or Erin.Blaylock@WashingtonCountyMN.gov.

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