St. Paul Mayor Carter announces COVID-19 relief measures

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, on Tuesday, announced a set of fine, fee and collection relief measures to help businesses and residents most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The measures include reductions in business license fees, extensions for business license renewals and waived towing and storage fees for city impound lots. Additionally, all dunning and collection processes have been suspended through June 30, and multi-year street assessments have been delayed until next year.

Carter said all businesses named in Gov. Tim Walz's Executive Order 20-04 and subsequent orders will have license fees reduced by 25%, and those with a license renewal before Aug. 1 will get a 90-day extension past their due date.

Towing and storage charges for vehicle owners reclaiming their vehicles from city impoundment lots will be waived through May 6 for the snow impound lot and through May 8 for the Barge Channel lot.

Overdue notices or dunning letters for past due city fees are suspended through June 30, although invoices will continue to be tracked during that time.

Finally, multi-year street assessments for city streets that would be levied in 2020 have been delayed for a year. The delayed assessments include street reconstruction projects, seal coating and mill and overlays.