In a unified move, the Minneapolis City Council approved the 2024 $1.8 billion city budget.

The Minneapolis Budget Committee voted to increase salary and wages for 566 city employees on Tuesday. With City Council’s approval, the change will go into effect in January.

The $2.7 million in pay raises will come from the city’s $1.8 billion budget proposal.

The largest of the three groups asking for the increase is the non-represented group, which includes 374 mid-level positions like accounting, program managers and city clerk positions.

In addition, there are 152 appointed jobs that cover city leadership roles, department heads and director-level positions. Finally, 39 staff who serve the council and mayor could see a raise.

“While wages are certainly not the only part of a successful and recruitment retention strategy, they continue to be a critical part of ours as we experience a very tight and competitive labor market,” said Ricka Stenerson, human resource director of total compensation for the City of Minneapolis.

Beyond retention, budget committee chair Emily Koski says a raise is necessary to show support for staff.

“We want to make sure that we take care of our Minneapolis city employees. And like I said, they are working tirelessly for our city residents,” Koski said.

Following a lengthy public comment, and brief final thoughts from council members, the budget was unanimously passed. It’s more than 7% higher than this years and includes a 6.2% tax levy increase.

The city said it includes tens of millions of dollars in new investments. One pilot program includes money for a pilot program for city crews to handle some of the snow and ice removal.  

Surrounding public safety, there’s $16 million for the implementation of the federal consent decree. Nearly $3 million for the city’s Behavioral Crisis Response Program and it will build out the Department of Neighborhood Safety and its violence prevention work.

What it doesn’t include is the $15 million Mayor Jacob Frey requested for police retention and recruitment bonuses, during a time they’re down hundreds of officers. That money would have come from the $19 million the city has from the state surplus – more than $13 million of that was approved for the Office of Community Safety.

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As council members wrapped up their meeting, council president Andrea Jenkins shared her gratitude surrounding how the council worked together to get to this point.

“There is more collaboration on this body than there is dissension. And I don’t know who benefits from that narrative but the reality is that we are working to improve the lives of the people of Minneapolis,” Jenkins said.

Following the budget approval, Mayor Frey sent the following statement:

“Through this budget, we’re positioning Minneapolis for progress on both courageous, new work and bedrock government service.” “Our residents want a safe community, thriving small and local businesses, actionable progress on the climate crisis, and an affordable place to call home. These are things we can and will deliver on. This budget lays out generational investments in the city we love – for residents who call Minneapolis home today and for those who will call it home years from now. I want to thank our entire budget team for their work on this, especially Chief Financial Officer Dushani Dye and Budget Director Jayne Discenza.”

The 2024 budget now heads to Mayor Frey for his signature.