It’s budget season in Minneapolis, and this year looks even more complicated than the last few. In this interview with Mayor Frey, we talk through many of the challenges, including the unique problems caused by Operation Metro Surge, a close review of each department to find efficiencies, millions of dollars added to the budget for MPD overtime, and shortfalls from downtown commercial buildings whose property values continue to be revised downward.
Despite the challenges, Frey is optimistic about what comes next. “Minneapolis is open for business,” he says. “It’s showing that downtown is being reactivated in a different way that we’ve never seen before.” We also talked about some of the many events Minneapolis hosted this past year that showed what the city has to offer. Frey cited Dinner du Nord, numerous East Lake Street events, the Mile of Music on Nicollet Mall, the Special Olympics, Open Streets, and WWE SummerSlam. On the city’s comeback, Frey said, “You can knock us down, but we won’t be out. We’re going to get back up again. The city is just so tough and resilient.”
Budget process
The first step in passing a city budget is for the Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) to set the maximum levy. Frey proposed 11.3%, a figure several board members have called too high. At Wednesday’s meeting, the board deadlocked 3-3 and will try again on Tuesday, September 29.
One sticking point is the park board levy. The mayor offered 4% as a compromise, but several members of the BET and the City Council want to fund the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s (MPRB) full request of 5.86%. According to Frey, the MPRB is the only department in the city that has been unwilling to make cuts. He is holding out for the park board to find reductions comparable to those other departments have made.
Once the BET sets the levy, the City Council will begin shaping the budget to reflect its priorities. Frey believes he mostly shares those priorities but pursues them in a different way. The mediator the city hired to improve relations between the council and the mayor will not take part in budget negotiations, but the ground rules for interaction still apply. Frey would like those rules to be public and transparent. They include no personal attacks, so everyone stays focused on the issues, and no assuming the other person’s intent. Frey notes that everyone has different backgrounds, constituencies, and reasons for their positions.
Beyond the budget, we discussed:
The concept of social housing, and how it does or does not differ from what people usually think of as public housing
Frey’s proposal to hire the 23 community safety ambassadors who currently work as contractors
His directive that the City Council give 48 hours’ notice when city staff are asked to testify, and why he believes written responses to council requests are sometimes enough
His continued support for public housing despite what happened at Heritage Park
Council positions
Council Member Elizabeth Shaffer, typically a Frey ally, summed up the budget problem in her latest newsletter: “People are fed up with their taxes going up while it seems like the city is not doing enough to rein in expenses . . . We need to find efficiencies and scale back because we can’t balance our books by continuing to ask our residents to pay double-digit property tax increases year after year.”
Shaffer’s comments followed a Ward 7 Community Conversation where Budget Director Shawn Greene explained the basics of how the city budget is built. Expenses are rising, especially health insurance for the city’s 4,285 employees. Meanwhile, revenue from downtown commercial buildings and Local Government Aid (LGA) is flat. To maintain current service levels, the city would need to raise the property tax levy to cover an estimated $61 million shortfall.
Other council members, such as Ward 8’s Soren Stevenson, see the MPD as the main driver of rising expenses. In his newsletter, Stevenson writes that “the city is significantly struggling as a result of a pattern of unsustainable and unaccountable spending within the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD). Property taxes will continue to increase unless we take meaningful steps to reform the department and exercise needed financial oversight. As we continue to face difficult decisions in this budget session, this will remain a key focus of mine.”
Compromise is not a four-letter word
Compromise used to be a core part of a politician’s job. That fell by the wayside years ago, leaving a system where politicians cater to the special interest groups that turn out the vote for them. Many people worry about drones and Flock cameras, but few pay attention to the increasingly sophisticated networking and database tools that let campaigns pinpoint their supporters, motivate them, and largely ignore everyone else. Those supporters are then flooded with social media content they pass along to like-minded friends and neighbors. The result is often a message of solidarity against compromise. Any compromise is treated as weakness or a lack of moral character, rather than what it often is: serving residents as well as possible.
This year, Frey will be navigating conflict with the park board, residents tired of property tax increases, stubbornly flat revenue, and a City Council whose trust in him and the MPD seems to keep eroding. Despite these tensions, Frey remains committed to the work. “We’re going to keep working together and we’re going to keep trying to find compromise wherever we can,” he said. If everyone commits to reaching a budget through the necessary tradeoffs, it can be done. Frey, however, declined to predict the final outcome.
