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St. Paul News
Matt Sepic
St. Paul

Carter takes scalpel to St. Paul budget with line-item veto, approves smaller levy increase

man in blue suit & yellow tie stands before crowd
Flanked by supporters at a news conference, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter urges the city council to pass his budget compromise proposal ahead of a Dec. 11 council meeting.
Matt Sepic | MPR News

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St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter used his line-item veto power to cut several items from the city’s 2025 budget, but council members overrode all of the vetoes at a special meeting late Thursday afternoon.

The budget raises St. Paul’s property tax levy 5.9 percent, which is expected to cost the owner of a $275,000 home another $98 in the city portion of their property taxes next year. Carter initially wanted a 7.9 percent increase, before the council reduced it last week.

Carter signed the budget, but with a $2.4 million shortfall looming, he vetoed five items including a $1.9 million city council office renovation.

He told reporters ahead of the council meeting that the funds would be better spent on police overtime, which the council slashed by $1.2 million.

“If the city council is going to arbitrarily cut funding for policing by over $1 million, somebody has to tell us which 911 calls they want us to stop answering,” he said. “Which crimes do they want us to stop investigating?”

Council President Mitra Jalali said that previous council leadership set aside federal funds from the American Rescue Act for the office renovation.

“I wasn’t necessarily the person who negotiated that, but as a new council president, I’m upholding it,” Jalali said. “That’s part of what you do in leadership, you uphold the decisions of your predecessors to the extent that it is appropriate.”

Carter said that the council’s overrides of his vetoes are moot because they came after Wednesday’s deadline to finalize the budget.

The mayor noted that this was the first time during his seven years in office that he used his line-item veto power. He also said the city will implement a hiring freeze across all departments starting next year.