St. Paul mayor floats 6.8% levy increase

Yes, but: Her’s proposal would close Dayton’s Bluff Library, reduce rec center hours, lay off three city employees, and enact cuts touching every city department to close St. Paul’s $26 million revenue gap.

• Her personally would take a $20,000 salary cut, and three top mayoral aides would not receive cost-of-living raises — emblematic of across-the-board cuts Her hoped would affect managers more than frontline workers.

Zoom in: The St. Paul Police Department would shed four commander and seven sergeant positions, mostly by not backfilling vacant roles.

• The fire department would see two deputy chiefs demoted under Her’s plan.

Between the lines: "If this budget address was boring to you, good," Her joked Thursday during her budget address at Allianz Field, noting her proposal’s lack of flashy new initiatives.

• But Her did announce some modest investments, including $1.1 million to tackle the city’s deferred maintenance backlog and $2.3 million for additional first-responder and police academy trainings.

What they're saying: Given the revenue gap, "having a budget that's boring is actually quite a relief," City Council Budget Committee Chair Cheniqua Johnson told Axios.

• Johnson praised Her's back-to-basics approach, saying she appreciated that the mayor didn't float initiatives "that make people feel good, but don't necessarily meet the essentials in the city."

What’s next: The St. Paul City Council has until December to approve a budget.