Members of the St. Paul City Council have officially asked the mayor to cut up to $6 million in spending from the budget proposal he unveiled in August, with the goal of limiting the city’s 2025 property tax levy increase to no more than 5%. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s $855 million budget proposal currently calls for a 7.9% levy increase, raising alarm with fiscal watchdogs and some everyday residents and council members.
“We are hearing really clearly from our constituents that tax increases are a burden, and we’re trying to respond to what we’re hearing in a way that’s really responsible and doesn’t cut out needed services,” said Council Member Rebecca Noecker, in an interview Friday. “We’re pushing back pretty heavily on the mayor’s budget proposal.”
Council Member Cheniqua Johnson said there’s been no formal vote among the seven members, but “I’m also supportive of no more than a 5% tax levy increase at this time,” she said. “That would send a strong message, showing that we’re hearing our neighbors. … Throughout public testimony, we’ve heard a lot of concerns about growing taxes, the cost of inflation. I’ve definitely been hearing it all year.”
Council President Mitra Jalali said not all council members were on board with the request to rein in spending, and the exact amount of a requested reduction is still up in the air.
“Every year we do budget negotiations. Members significantly want to reduce the levy. Not every member agrees with that,” said Jalali on Friday. “I think the final amount of reductions is still in play. There’s a lot of appetite to respond to property tax stress, but there’s (also appetite for) funding important investments.”
Social, environmental initiatives
Carter has sought to fund a variety of social and environmental initiatives, such as free swim classes for kids, library-based social workers and homebuyer assistance, and to hire a coordinator for climate change-related programs, a position that has previously been funded through grants. At the same time, he’s faced some criticism from rank-and-file St. Paul Firefighters, among other labor interests, over wages and staffing.
“The proposal from the council has just come in,” said Jennifer Lor, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, on Friday. “We’ve received the request. We’re working through it and we’re really hoping that by Dec. 18 we can get some common ground.”
Some fiscal changes have already gone through. The mayor’s office had proposed adding a franchise fee to residential Xcel Energy gas and heating bills in the months of November and April, with the goal of raising money for a home weatherization program and other initiatives, including funding a climate action coordinator. On Wednesday, the city council voted to limit the fee increase to April alone, effectively cutting the $4.25 million in projected revenue in half across the next two years.
Tax hearing
The city council’s budget calendar currently calls for a Truth in Taxation public hearing to be held at 6 p.m. on Dec. 2, followed by the council’s final adoption of the 2025 budget and tax levy around 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 4. The sizable spending cut request from the city council raises the likelihood that vote may have to be delayed a week or two.
By state statute, the council has until Dec. 18 to finalize the new budget and tax levy.
Jalali noted that Thanksgiving, which always falls on the fourth Thursday of November, lands almost at the end of the month this year. The council usually has about a week between Thanksgiving break and the final levy vote to hash out budget differences with the mayor’s office, but the calendar this year has been unforgiving.
There is no council meeting scheduled Nov. 27, the day before Thanksgiving, and the next meeting won’t be until Dec. 4, offering little time to work things out.
“We actually lost a week and might add one in,” Jalali said.
Areas that could be cut
Noecker, who acknowledged this likely was the most contentious budget season of her tenure, said that to get to $5.5 million to $6 million in spending reductions, council members have taken a hard look at ongoing staff vacancies, particularly positions that have been sitting unfilled for at least a year.
“In our mind, if it hasn’t been filled in a year, there’s no need to be carrying that fiscal load,” she said, noting in some cases the budget proposal could better reflect hiring realities. “We looked at attrition. If you budget for a new position in 2024, that person is not actually hired Jan. 1, 2025. There’s a big delta there.”
The council members have also been “pushing back against new positions that may not be justified. If you need a new mechanical inspector, show us that you’re not able to keep up with the work without one,” she said.
The mayor’s budget proposal calls for the addition of four firefighters, but the St. Paul Fire Department has noted that’s a carry-over from the current year’s budget, which called for the four new firefighters to be hired in 2024. Some council members have called for adding three more firefighters next year on top of that, for a total of seven.
“Things that we know are basic services that need to be added, we’re adding,” Noecker said. The mayor’s office, for instance, had called for continuing to offer free swim lessons for kids, but the mayor’s budget proposal does not maintain free Sunday open swims at the Oxford Community Center and Great River Water Park on Lexington Parkway.
“We’re trying to bring that back,” Noecker said.
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