St. Paul ‘Truth in Taxation’ hearing scheduled Monday, but Carter and city council are still $6 million apart

To reduce the mayor’s budget proposal by $6 million, as the city council has requested, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter’s administration would have to lay off 16 police officers, slash 5,000 staff service hours from the city’s parks and recreation centers and cut some 6,000 hours of staff service in city libraries, likely shuttering some facilities.

That’s according to a recent analysis from the city’s Office of Financial Services, which has been helping Carter assemble a detailed response to the council’s demands to lower his proposed property tax levy from 7.9% down to 5%, given the impact on everyday homeowners.

The St. Paul City Council is poised to host its annual “Truth in Taxation” hearing in the downtown council chambers at 6 p.m. on Monday, but this one may be like few others before it, with millions of dollars in proposed spending cuts from the next city budget still up in the air.

The hearing is intended to walk residents through the proposed property tax levy — the sum total of all property taxes collected in the city — and certain aspects of the city budget, both of which have yet to be finalized. The council previously advertised Dec. 4 as the date for their final vote on both, but given the wide philosophical berth between individual council members and Carter on up to $6 million in potential spending, that vote could be delayed.

A 7.9% levy increase

Under the mayor’s $855 million budget proposal, released in August, the property tax levy would go up 7.9%, one of the more sizable increases of the past decade.

The levy went up about that much in 2017, and even more in 2018, 2019 and 2023, partially due to a court-ordered shift in funding most street maintenance through property taxes instead of fees.

Individual members of the city council have asked the mayor to rein in planned spending and reduce the levy increase to no more than 5%, while simultaneously adding $1.3 million in new spending to fund the council’s priorities, which range from new library materials to the council’s racial reparations commission.

Interviewed in late November, Council Member Rebecca Noecker said that council members have called for savings by eliminating ongoing staff vacancies, particularly positions sitting unfilled for at least a year, and that the council has been “pushing back against new positions that may not be justified.”

Council cuts — and additions

At the same time, some council members have called for adding into the budget three more firefighters than the four currently budgeted, for a total of seven, as well as continuing to fund free Sunday open swims at the Oxford Community Center and Great River Water Park on Lexington Parkway.

Additional spending proposed by council members includes $250,000 for the racial reparations commission, $175,000 for library materials and $100,000 for an evaluation of rent control impacts.

The mayor’s office, together with the Office of Financial Services, responded with a nine-page analysis showing that a $6 million spending reduction would require cuts to almost 60 planned spending items, including holding more than a dozen positions open.

Those positions include a police forensic scientist, a police property clerk, two animal services officers, a downtown project manager, a mechanical engineer and building planner, and other roles. Impacted programs would range from street lighting to downtown wayfinding signage, as well as downtown banners and public art.

Carter’s office noted that 66% of the city council’s proposed cuts — totaling $3.7 million — are “unspecified cuts that risk detrimental consequences for our ability to maintain the high-quality city services our residents expect.”

For instance, he said, $2.3 million in “unspecified police cuts would reduce our authorized strength by 16 officers, interrupt 911
response, slow investigations, and reverse the momentum of our Community First Public Safety framework, which has produced reductions in nearly all categories of violent crime and nearly tripled our case clearance rate for non-fatal shootings.”

Meeting the council’s demands would force a reduction of more than 35,000 staff service hours in the city’s parks and recreation
centers, and 6,000 hours of staff service hours in city libraries, according to the mayor’s office, “likely requiring layoffs and targeted closures in both departments.”

Other cities facing inflationary pressure

The mayor’s office noted many other cities across the metro are facing the same inflationary pressures.

Minneapolis has proposed an 8.1% tax levy increase, and the mayor’s office found 14 suburbs near St. Paul proposing even higher tax levy increases than the capital city, including Vadnais Heights (17.2%), Spring Lake Park (16.7%) and Arden Hills (15.5%).

Under state statute, both the budget and tax levy must be finalized by Dec. 18.

St. Paul budgets

Here’s a listing by year of St. Paul’s recent budgets:

• 2025 (proposed):  $854.9 million.

• 2024: $839.9 million.

• 2023: $801 million*.

• 2022: $677.1 million.

• 2021: $650.2 million.

• 2020: $647.2 million.

• 2019: $612.2 million.

• 2018: $606.3 million.

• 2017: $543.7 million.

• 2016: $569.6 million.

• 2015: $529.7 million

Note: Years 2015-2022 represent actual spending, while 2023 and 2024 represent the city’s adopted operating budgets before end-of-the-year reconciliation. 2025 is proposed and also subject to change.

The operating budget includes the city general fund, library fund, special fund and debt service.