MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey proposed his $1.8 billion 2024 budget to City Council members on Tuesday.
This proposal is part of Frey's biennial budget he presented to the council exactly one year ago today.
"As I said before, this marks the second half of our first two-year budget cycle," Frey said in his budget address. "Last year, I highlighted the importance of this shift allowing us to effectively plan ahead. This year I will discuss a bit more about the process of arriving at this final proposal."
Mayor Frey outlined his top priorities for 2024, which include public safety, housing, and infrastructure.
Part of his safety plan focused on changing the Minneapolis Police Department following the investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and Minnesota Department of Human Rights in the wake of George Floyd's murder.
Under Frey's proposed budget, about $16 million in 2024 and nearly $11 million for 2025 will be needed for the "daily work of compliance" by the MPD and other places like Minneapolis Civil Right Department and the City Attorney's Office.
"Driving this critical work for the city will be a team with at least 34 dedicated staff including 28 civilian positions in MPD," Frey said in his budget address, "This investment will go toward every part of the process to fundamentally change the way policing is done in Minneapolis."
The mayor has proposed a property tax increase of 6.2 percent, the same number he projected in the two-year budget forecast last year. That means the median homeowner in Minneapolis would pay about $150 more in property taxes next year. According to the city, about 21 percent of the property tax revenue would go toward police -- the largest share of any single department.
"It's needed, right? Those consent decrees, that's a big part of how we're going to move forward in public safety and it's best that we have the money to do so," said Ward 4 Council Member Latrisha Vetaw. "There's a huge expectation in the city of Minneapolis that we're going to abide by the federal consent decree and also by the state settlement agreement with MDHR."
But Vetaw said she understands concerns about the proposed property tax increase.
"In Ward 4, where property taxes are going up, we get hit the hardest. But I think we have to do better at services for the people who live in Minneapolis," Vetaw said. "Whether that's public safety, snowplowing, we have to make people feel like they're getting a bang for their buck."
Michael Rainville, the council member for Ward 3, said there could be some room for negotiation with the proposed property tax increase of 6.2 percent.
"I think it's a reasonable number to start with," Rainville said. "Can we get it down? We're gonna take a deeper dive. That's why the council has the legislative authority and that's certainly what we're going to have to do here in the next couple of months
Frey's plan proposes increasing funding for the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA), from $1 million to $5 million annually.
"This is five times more than the previous funding level and I don't say this lightly this is historic," Frey said.
Mayor Frey proposed increasing funding by $18 million to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund that's aimed at helping produce and preserve quality affordable housing across Minneapolis.
The budget proposal also included several infrastructure improvements for things like parks, fire trucks and roads.
Following a record-setting winter, public works crews needed to fill 8,000 potholes city-wide so far this year. Frey said that's the same amount they had to fill in the previous three years combined.
"Eight-thousand potholes filled just in these first 8 months alone," Frey said. "So, we’ll step up for the city, and for our public works department...and for our parkways."
Frey's plan proposes increasing funding for the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board, from $750,000 to $2.7 million, for crews to repair parkway systems across the city. It's also investing nearly a half million dollars for new public works equipment to get potholes repaired faster and $1 million for a permanent snow storage location.
To see more of the highlights from Mayor Frey's address, click here.
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