Minneapolis City Council, Mayor Frey put forth competing proposals to trim tax levy increase

The Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey were at odds Friday for solutions to reduce a projected 8.3% property tax increase for next year.

A majority of council members favored forgoing raises for some of the highest paid city employees, while the mayor responded with 0.37% budget reductions across 20 departments, sparing smaller departments with relatively low overhead costs. Both Frey and the council agreed on postponing the implementation of a $5.6 million technology upgrade.

If passed, a series of City Council amendments would bring the tax levy increase down to 6.9%; the mayor’s proposals would reduce the tax levy to 6.4%.

During a Budget Committee meeting on Friday, a majority of the City Council supported an amendment to nix raises for 161 nonunion employees, many of whom are in appointed positions.

Some council members called it an unfair approach that could drive senior staff out.

“I want to reduce the tax levy more than anything because it is putting undue burden on our residents. But denying cost of living increases to our department leaders and managers is not the way to do it,” Council Member Linea Palmisano said. “This group of employees are not represented. Are we saying they matter less than those who are represented by a union or can somehow take advantage of the fact that they are not backed by a union?”

Others, such as Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai, rebutted that the savings of denying cost of living increases for non-represented employees will be more substantial than doing the same for junior staff — including City Council support staff — based on median salaries.

“I don’t want to somehow be under the assumption that we’re, like, doing something that is prioritizing our own staff above everyone else. It’s that all of their raises combined cost $140,000 compared to all of these raises combined cost almost $1.1 million,” Chughtai said.

The council passed its proposed cuts by a 7-5 vote.

After a lunch break, Frey joined the chambers to bring forth his proposals to further bring down the tax levy. But he also criticized council members for simultaneously taking up more than 70 budget amendments, many of which are for what he called “pet projects” that introduce new spending for “unvetted” programs and outside organizations.

“Collectively, the concern is around cutting core city services and then adding things that we want. Cutting needs and then adding wants,” Frey said.

Council members pushed back on Frey’s “pet projects” remarks and accused the mayor of rushing a response to the council’s amendments. City Council President Elliott Payne even characterized the mayor’s actions as “usurping the role of City Council” to set its own budget priorities.

“A pet project? I have a definition for it: What is supported by the majority and what is not? That is what this process is. If we don’t see value in any given council member’s priorities, it will not pass,” Payne said before urging the council to reject Frey’s proposal.

The council voted down Frey’s amendments before moving on to the rest of the markup process.

Frey framed the council’s action as a rejection of further lowering taxes for Minneapolis residents.

“As residents continue to bear the heavy burden of property taxes, it’s essential that we find efficiencies—and today, we took action to do just that. We proposed a motion to reduce the tax levy from 8.3% to 6.4%, yet Council rejected it,” Frey said in a statement. “Instead, they approved higher taxes with a 6.9% levy and are moving forward with 73 amendments that fund pet projects, prioritize wants over needs, and irresponsibly drain the City’s cash reserves, all while cutting important City services.”