The Minneapolis City Council approved Mayor Jacob Frey’s $2 billion budget Tuesday, adding nearly 40 amendments to the plan while pulling back on proposals to cut staffing in Frey’s office.
Supported by a 7.8% increase in property taxes — a bump of about $240 for the median Minneapolis single family homeowner — there were no major cuts, including to the Minneapolis Police Department. But there were plenty of arguments about how exactly funds were being shifted.
City Council President Elliott Payne, representing Ward 1, called it “the hardest budget season that I think I’ve been in” shortly after the all-but-unanimous approval. Outgoing Ward 5 Council member Jeremiah Ellison was absent from the vote.
The amendment votes alone stretched across multiple meetings from Friday morning to late Tuesday. Many met with unanimous approval, like a $121,400 increase in funding for legal services for immigrants. Several others, including some involving law enforcement, drew closer votes.
Of note was a $1.7 million earmark for MPD funding to support a non-fatal shooting task force to improve the city’s clearance rates. Supporters cited the success that a similar effort has seen in Saint Paul in the two years since it was implemented. It passed 8-4-1.
One early amendment from Ward 2 Council member Robin Wonsley decreased the budget for the planned Public Safety Training and Wellness Center by $5.5 million, instead sending those funds to the city’s Protected Bikeways Program, traffic safety improvements and ramp replacement to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.
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Wonsley said Frey’s administration had committed to the $24 million training center, without council approval, through the 2023 Minnesota Department of Human Rights settlement agreement. She called that effort “an attempt to bypass our budget authority as council members.”
A city response to the amendment stated that the settlement agreement required extensive training requirements that current facilities couldn’t meet. And Minneapolis City Attorney Kristyn Anderson cited “grave concerns” that Effective Law Enforcement for All, the independent evaluator for the city’s police department, would accept an altered plan.
Such hand-wringing did not move Ward 12 Council member Aurin Chowdhury. “That is for ELEFA to determine, that’s why they’re an independent body,” she said. “That is not for the City of Minneapolis to determine.”
Another Wonsley amendment commits $200,000 to support the development of a new grocery store in a food-insecure area, including the possibility of a city-owned store.
Council member LaTrisha Vetaw (Ward 4), citing her ward’s North Market as an already existing store that could use financial assistance to stay in business, questioned the amendment’s scope.
Wonsley acknowledged the concerns but held firm. “I’m hearing folks would love to explore how to support existing grocery chains or options,” Wonsley said. “That is not what this amendment does.” It eventually passed 8-4-1.
Wonsley also successfully restored $595,000 to the city’s sidewalk plowing pilots over the protests of council members like Linea Palmisano (Ward 13), who said she feared the reallocated funds and staff would slow things like pretreatment for winter storms and response to emergencies. The council approved the amendment 8-4-1.
Minneapolis City Council budgeting process ‘mean-spirited,’ ‘political’
One of the most contentious parts of the budget process had been a number of moves that would have resulted in deep cuts to Frey’s staff, a move he called “mean-spiritied and blatantly political” in a Star Tribune op-ed.
By the time the amendments were approved, the majority of those cuts had been transferred to vacant positions.
One final detail that’s sure to be an ongoing point of discussion was the Minneapolis Police Department’s $19.6 million overrun of their budget, something that led many councilors to ask pointed questions of Police Chief Brian O’Hara.
Back pay, settlement agreements and a high number of new hires were among the reasons cited by O’Hara for the overspending, but Council members seemed shocked that the department had been caught off guard by the issue.
With the budget approved, Frey has until Dec.16 to sign it and make it official or veto and send it back to the council.
