I will give my insights, but with one caveat. The original intent of
my post was to help people better understand the property tax system in
St. Paul. People fail to understand over in St. Paul why Norm Coleman
and Randy Kelly's "No new taxes" pledge is unsustainable, and at least
in the long term, doubtful public policy. Like Minneapolis, also is a
lack of understanding about issues like Tax Increment Financing (TIF),
Local Government Aid (LGA) and the like.
As we get into comparisons to Minneapolis, I am depending more on what
I have heard from other trusted sources, and less on my own
information, and that's partly why the post ended there. And probably
then get a little sloppier. But there's an opening here for a
higher-level discussion that I think is really worthwhile, but is
sometimes missing in both cities, about key indicators of health... I
am not the one to manage that discussion.
I know I have seen figures about the % of tax base the downtowns
represent, and Minneapolis' is far greater, which is part of the reason
St. Paul has been historically more dependent on state aid generally.
But I can share the following...
COMPARISON OF MINNEAPOLIS AND ST PAUL TAX BURDEN. The comparison of
levy amounts came from an analysis done for the St. Paul City Council
by the City's Budget Director. The comparison of property taxes is
based on a $200,000 home. The data I was citing was from 2003. In
2004, Minneapolis' taxes grew to be 1.9 times the size of St. Paul's on
a $200,000 home. But there's more to the comparison than that. In
order to live up to his "no new taxes" pledge, St. Paul's Mayor Randy
Kelly has enacted a bunch of new "Right of Way Maintenance Fees",
assessed not on a property's value, but on the linear feet of street
frontage. These fees are for things like street sweeping, snow
plowing, and lighting. To my knowledge, Minneapolis has no such fees,
except perhaps in special taxing districts. Much of this information
(minus the fees) can be calculated on the League of Minnesota's
calculator at http://www.lmnc.org/library/propcalc.cfm. Add a hundred
or three for fees, and there's your comparison.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AID. One other major factor that is at play here is
Local Goverment Aid (LGA) payments, and its shifts over the years. For
the cuts between 2002 and 2004, LGA was cut to both Minneapolis and St.
Paul. One of the reasons that Norm Coleman was able to not raise
property taxes during his 8 years, and still sustain city services was
because the Democrats at the legislature raised the LGA payments.
During the last four years, these payments have diminished
significantly. And Mayor Kelly has tried desperately to continue
Norm's "no tax" legacy out a few more years by plugging the gaps with
his fees. It seems he's been remarkably successful (and I'm not
exactly his biggest supporter).
COMPARISON OF CITY SERVICES. This is a hard one. St. Paul Libraries
are open more hours than in Minneapolis. But are there more libraries
per capita in Minneapolis? Minneapolis has about 30% more parkland per
capita than St. Paul. St. Paul has made cuts to rec center staffing,
but has tapped foundations in places to make up the difference. And
what of police? How many police per capita? Should there be more
police if a city has a higher crime rate? I just don't know if we can
do a real comparison here, without some substantial study. But we can
make general observations.
Then there are the less visible services. St. Paul funds 17 district
councils, not 50+ as you do in Minneapolis. The City has always
provided barely enough money for at most 1.5 staff persons at district
councils, while NRP seemed awash in money for a quite awhile. Look at
the long-range functions of City government, and they have been
stripped in St. Paul: the planning department has, according to one
trusted source, ONE FIFTH as many planners as when George Latimer left
office in 1989. With all your recent reorganization in planning, I
don't know what has happened in Minneapolis.
But again, I think there is a real need for tools for both city's
citizens to understand the budgets of their respective cities better.
Minneapolis and St. Paul are unique cities, but are similar enough that
I think we'd benefit from some basic analysis and discussion of
financial management.
I have more questions than answers. Any more thoughts/reactions??
Bob Spaulding
Downtown St. Paul
On Jul 9, 2005, at 11:09 AM, Dorie Rae Gallagher wrote:
* * * * *
Minneapolis shows the
results of a high-tax, high-service city....
That's right. Minneapolis' population is 1.3 times larger than ours,
the average homeowner pays about 1.6 times more in property taxes
Downtown properties pay a FAR larger percentage of the tax bill in
Minneapolis
Where is Vickie when we need her...yes, I do miss her.
I don't believe we have anything to crow about in Minneapolis in
comparsion to
Saint Paul...except for the fact.... NOT raising taxes will bankrupt a
city or as California
found out..a state. Saint Paul's streets are maintained as well as
ours summer and winter.
The police seem to be more visible...but then I AM comparing that to
Nokomis! I believe
they do a better job in bringing extra funds to the Foundation than
Minneapolis.
They have done a great job on building infrastructure the past few
years. Love those
bridges.
Saint Paul's education budget is 573 million...has decreased only 65
million in past
6 years. They have 6,700 employees...
Minneapolis serves 49,000 students, has 8,000 employees...the
education budget
is $600 million...has been decreased by 185 million in one year along
with the
loss of 14 million in revenue for 2004-5 for declining enrollment. We
have a budget
of only 27 million more than Saint Paul with Minneapolis having a 1.3
million more in
population which surely includes a kid or two.
We pay a lot more for govenment since they are part-time council..we
have full time
with plenty of staff making big bucks. Their library board consists of
members of the
City Council, we appoint two members to be on the board to represent
the Mayor and Council.
It looks like they did some major triming in the late 90's.
Saint Paul did not cut their libraries down 30-50% in either staff or
hours as did Mpls.
Mpls. budget was 19,767,850 actual and SP was 1.4 MB which had been
cut.
If my memory serves me correctly...Minneapolis has 8 million in
nontaxed properties
and if we really look at what downtown has been taxed in comparsion to
value..I do
not think they are paying a FAR larger percentage of the taxes.
Minneapolis does
needs some sharp tax reform and some different priorities within the
budget.
However, we have gotten screwed by the elected over in the state
capitol...the ones that got
paid while they put others out of work. For the amount of taxes we
pay...to look at
our education budget...any sane person can see we are being targeted.
Oh that's right,
the Mpls.paper once stated...they were going to show us! Education did
get a bump
this year...what will be interesting is how much Minneapolis will see
of it.
If I don't do my job...I don't get paid. This work should have been
done in May.
Perhaps the people in Minneapolis and the state can do something about
this
travesty that just happened. They all should go home now and put sacks
over
their heads and please don't come back out until elections are over...
Dorie Rae Gallagher/Nokomis
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