St. Paul City Council Overrides Mayor’s Veto, Adopts 2025 Budget
In a flurry of activity over the course of two days on December 18 & 19, the City Council passed the 2025 budget for the City, but not without some tumult.
The Council passed their initial proposed budget on December 18, which included an increase to the city’s tax levy of 5.9%, 2% less than the initial budget proposal from the mayor’s office.
The next day, Mayor Carter issued a line item veto of five items. At issue were a $1.2 million cut to the police budget, eliminating the Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity Director position and hiring and contracting freezes.
At a special session on December 19, the Council overrode the Mayor’s veto on a 7-0 vote, pushing through their initial budget proposal.
Highlights of the 2025 budget include adding seven new firefighters, restoring $175,000 in library funding for materials and allocating $500,000 for the Transforming Libraries project, restoring funding to continue the free swimming program and continuing the free youth sports programs, dedicated funding for tree planting and urban canopy to address the climate crisis, creating a new $1.4 million fund to support Commercial Corridors, investing $2.5 million in downtown revitalization efforts and a $4 million investment into affordable housing and supports for renters.
One of the major sticking points over the proposed budget arose from disagreements over police spending.
In their statement, the City Council expressed concerns about reigning in overtime spending by the police force, which is expected to surpass their overtime budget by $5 million in 2024.
Mayor Carter said in a statement that the primary drivers of those additional expenses are essential and required tasks, such as back-filling patrol shifts for officers away on military or medical leave, pursuing time-sensitive investigations, and testifying in criminal trials.
“As these are essential and required services, this reduction cannot be realized as actual savings,” Carter said in a statement.
Read more: Find the full proposed budget at stpaul.gov/ofs/saint-pauls-budget/2025-proposed-budget.
