MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey proposed increasing the city's tax levy by 8.1% in 2025 during his budget address on Wednesday, citing rising inflation, labor costs and other economic factors.
Speaking to a packed audience of fellow city employees in downtown Minneapolis, Frey laid out his plans for a $1.88 billion budget next year. The proposed property tax increase would cost the median homeowner an extra $207, according to the city, although Frey said his administration shifted resources to keep property taxes down as much as possible.
"We've managed to do what felt like a pipe dream a few months ago: Keep the levy increase under 10 percent. And then, through efficiencies and many hard choices, we've managed to drive down the levy to an 8.1-percent increase," Frey said. "I'm not expecting us to celebrate this lift, because our residents have a new lift of their own in property taxes, but this budget provides a way through."
Frey's budget proposal includes spending in a number of different areas, ranging from affordable housing, to climate action, to the expansion of a downtown storefront program and the new community safety center in South Minneapolis, just to name a few items.
Frey is also pitching more than $1 million in spending for 13 additional staff members to help Minneapolis Police come into compliance with an existing state court order and the upcoming federal consent decree.
"We've heard from experts that achieving those targets requires resources, from training to personnel. We aren't waiting for the ink to dry on a formal agreement," Frey said. "We're building out the team tasked with compliance now. We need to get people on board, trained in, and aligned with the mission. We're investing now so we don't find ourselves behind later."
Other budget proposals related to public safety include funding for police recruitment, $385,000 to expedite background checks for MPD hiring, and $5.9 million in continued funding toward behavioral crisis response teams.
Mayor Frey's budget address serves as a starting point for negotiations with the city council, which will ultimately approve the budget by the end of the year. Budget hearings are set to begin next month.
Without having seen all of the details yet, Council President Elliott Payne said his colleagues have some common ground with the mayor in the 2025 budget document.
"At the top line, I think there's a lot of value alignment. We both agree on affordable housing, we both agree that we need a more humane response to encampments, and I think we all agree on some of the safety investments we're making," Payne said. "But how we get to the outcome, that's where the differences lie and the details matter."
Payne said the council will now take a closer look at the mayor's proposed cuts, which helped him get to the 8.1-percent tax levy increase figure.
"We want to make sure those cuts align with our priorities," Payne said.