Coleman: St. Paul to hold property taxes flat

Mayor Chris Coleman today proposed a city budget with no increase in property taxes, thanks to a $10 million increase in state aid. But he warned that the city must take action to set its financial house in order.

City leaders say increases in state aid to local government, made possible when Democrats regained control of both houses of the Legislature will allow the city to hold the line on taxes this year.

The city's property tax levy has increased by about 50 percent during Coleman's tenure, and now stands at about $100 million.

This year marks only the second time in eight years that Coleman has been able to keep the property tax rate flat. But the state Legislature is partially responsible for those past tax hikes, because during Republican control it repeatedly cut the amount of local government aid it sent St. Paul, City Council President Kathy Lantry said.

Introducing Coleman today, Lantry said things have changed.

"We'll be unable to enhance or even maintain the level of service unless we think things out a different way... And we'll have the worst of all worlds: increases in taxes and decreases in service."

"This year we've been granted a reprieve," she said to applause. "I know, it's a really big deal."

Coleman said despite the reprieve, the city still faces challenges as it is doubtful that state aid will keep pace with costs that are expected to rise.

That means St. Paul can't afford to be complacent, the mayor said.

"We'll be unable to enhance or even maintain the level of service unless we think things out a different way," he said. "And we'll have the worst of all worlds: increases in taxes and decreases in service."

Coleman wants St. Paul to hire a consultant who will help it become more efficient. He's also establishing a city innovations team, an approach he said has succeeded in other cities, including Louisville, Ky.

"Louisville alone has accomplished a number of efficiencies," Coleman said. "Among them are strategies that reduce the number of low-severity 9-11 calls, and thus unnecessary EMS runs. It's time for St. Paul to catch up."

To do so, the police department plans to buy software that will allow citizens to report low-level crimes using the internet. Police chief Tom Smith said there's no reason the city needs to keep taking those reports by phone.

"Sometimes people will call us on a garage burglary or a bike that's been stolen and they tell us they don't want an officer to respond, but they need a police report primarily for insurance purposes," Smith said. "Those calls come in all the time, but those are the type of crimes people can report online."

Once the new system is implemented, the chief said, it will allow officers who sit at desks and answer the phone to return to street patrols.

Coleman's budget also contains two new civilian positions in the police department -- crime analysts who use statistics to find crime patterns and solve cases.

While the budget contains no tax increases, it does hike a couple of fees. The average home owner will spend an average of $8 a year more for street maintenance. City residents also will see the cost of recycling go up by $11 a year.

Environmental Policy Director Anne Hunt said that extra money will allow the city to accept more kinds of plastic and eliminate the need for residents to sort recyclables into two bins.

"Starting in 2014, you'll be able to put all your recyclable material in the same container," Hunt said. "So that's paper and office paper, cans and glass, all the new plastics, phone books. All those things can go in one container."

A group of residents have been pushing the city to go even further with recycling. They want to be able to save food scraps from going into the landfill, too. But composting didn't make it in the budget this year, because of concerns over costs and questions about whether enough residents would participate in such a program.

Tim Brownell, CEO of Eureka Recycling, the non-profit organization that runs St. Paul's recycling program, said recycling more types of plastic is a good idea, but the city still throws way too much away.

"What's still in that garbage stream, at least 25 to 30 percent of that material is compostable," he said.

Minneapolis has had a pilot composting program in a few neighborhoods for the last five years. But it hasn't yet rolled the program out citywide.

Coleman said he wants St. Paul to eventually do so. But that won't happen in the 2014 budget.

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