Minneapolis mayor makes high-stakes pitch for budget trims, tax hike
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Photo Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios; Photo: Nicholas Pfosi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Mayor Jacob Frey is asking Minneapolis to tighten its belt.
Why it matters: The mayor proposed Wednesday to increase the city's property tax levy by 7.8% next year — Minneapolis' largest levy hike since 2010, if enacted — though the increase could've been higher without $23 million in cuts the mayor has suggested.
- He contends the budget proposal shields taxpayers from a flood of rising costs without employee layoffs or deep cuts to core services like road repairs or police.
What they're saying: "This was not an easy budget year. But it's also not a crisis budget. This is a disciplined budget," Frey said in his budget address Wednesday morning.
Zoom in: If Minneapolis made no major budget changes, city officials would've needed a much larger levy increase next year — as much as 13% — to keep up with rising costs, mostly for salaries, benefits and construction expenses.
- By eliminating two dozen vacant positions and making other money-saving accounting moves, city officials were able to reduce next year's levy increase.
- Minneapolis would also save $3.6 million by eliminating "double-time" overtime pay for police officers. (The department has spent record amounts on OT amid a staffing shortage, per the Star Tribune.)
The big picture: The mayor now has to sell the $2 billion budget proposal to the City Council — which is controlled by Frey critics — during an election year, as even some of the mayor's council allies are pleading for limits to the levy increase.
Friction points: The mayor's budget saves money by ending or reorganizing programs that the council funded, but were deemed "untested or unsustainable."
- For example, instead of four Open Streets festivals, the mayor proposes to fund only three — and Frey has already faced criticism for stifling the event.
- The city would also continue a sidewalk-shoveling partnership with neighborhood groups, but abandon other efforts to explore city-run sidewalk clearing programs that have intrigued council members.
The other side: Council Member Jason Chavez says the mayor's proposal for propping up one underfunded program to house families with school-aged children would cut a different emergency housing voucher program.
- The council wrote the emergency vouchers into last year's budget, but the program never launched.
- Frey told reporters his staff was upfront last year that they lacked the capacity to start many of the new programs council members envisioned in their budget.
What we're watching: The council makes most final budget decisions, and last year, Frey's council critics banded together to override a mayoral veto and enact their own, rewritten spending plan.
- "What we proved last year is that we can both reduce the levy … and fund these services," Chavez told Axios, saying he wanted to hear a more detailed plan for investments into homeless services.
What's next: The city's Board of Estimate and Taxation will set the maximum levy amounts later this fall, though the council can always approve smaller tax increases.
- The council must pass a balanced budget by December.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional comments from City Council and the mayor.