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Dear Neighbor,
With the City’s 2020 budget set to be voted on this Wednesday (12/11) evening, I wanted to check-in and give you all a brief overview of how last week’s 2020 budget mark-up went. As you may well know, following the Mayor’s budget address in August, the City Council took ownership of the proposed budget. I, as chair of Budget Committee, then hosted a series of departmental briefings where our department heads presented on new items, or change items, in their budget requests. We then hosted two public hearings during which residents shared their voices and opinions about the proposed budget. Then, last Friday, we held a mark-up session where Council Members brought forward amendments to the proposed budget.
This year several amendments were brought forward by my colleagues. You can find a full list of those amendments here. My main responsibility chairing this meeting was to facilitate productive discussion and encourage collaboration amongst my colleagues. I am proud to say that this year was a good example of the kind of outcomes we can see from a Council and Mayor that work together. Not only were most amendments brought forward in advance of this meeting, allowing for adequate discussion and thoughtful consideration, but many were also moved with multiple authors. I am proud of these efforts and the example it sets for future years.
I also want to take this moment to clarify one major outcome of the mark-up session. In the Mayor’s original budget there was an item that would have added 14 new sworn officers to the Minneapolis Police Department’s (MPD) budget. From the beginning, I’ve been clear that I support this and would have supported more. I believe in Chief Arradondo’s vision of procedural justice and equitable policing and want to give him the resources necessary to implement that vision. I also know that response times in our City are lacking and addressing staffing deficiencies is one necessary step in addressing that issue.
Prior to mark-up, and through a lot of collaboration with Council Members, the Mayor offered a new proposal that would take the same allocation and instead put it towards investments in recruiting and training new officers. This includes adding an additional class of cadets next year. While it was difficult for me to consider not hiring those 14 new officers, the Mayor’s proposal does address an even bigger staffing concern.
Our contingent of MPD officers always fluctuates due to a staffing model the city implemented to account for retirement, medical leave, military service leave and other instances that require vacancies. Unfortunately, that can make it difficult to maintain peak sworn staffing numbers when recruiting classes do not keep up. Thus, a significant investment in recruiting and expanding our cadet classes will allow MPD to hire more cadets after they graduate to fill out the numbers. The result will mean fewer understaffed precincts. I have been deeply involved in the funding priorities within our training division.
I support this change Mayor Frey brought forward. I’d asked for it to be part of his original proposed budget. So while I didn’t want it to come from the new 14 officer slots, it starts to address an issue this department has, and lays the groundwork for more staffing moving forward. I remain steadfastly committed to Chief Arradondo and his efforts, and believe this investment is a good step in allowing that vision to move forward.
At the same time, we need to have conversations about what violence prevention means in our city every day. And we need to make those investments accordingly. I am deeply supportive of many of these initiatives, and I also believe we must invest in them while not divesting in Chief Arradondo’s vision of transforming this police department to meet our very real, current needs. I will devote a future newsletter to outlining all of the ways we are working on that in our city, as it is deserving of its own spotlight.
Regards,
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