Budget amendments and adoption process

Dear Community, 

Council is entering the final phase of the 2025 Budget process. After several months of receiving department presentations, holding two public hearings, and lots of discussion with residents, Council Members have submitted our proposed amendments to the Mayor’s proposed 2025 Budget. 

I am proud to have been the lead author on thirteen amendments to prioritize more than $8 million on issues that residents have shared are important to Ward 2. I have greatly valued the opportunity to collaborate with residents, Council Members, city staff, and community leaders on each of the proposals that I am leading on.

I want to note that all of my proposed amendments to the 2025 budget draw from sources within the city budget. Council budget amendments do not contribute to increasing the levy, they reflect priorities for dollars that have already been budgeted. 

Council Member Wonsley’s 2025 Budget Amendments

Emergency Housing Vouchers

• Description: Partnering with Hennepin County and the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority to provide housing and wraparound services for 50 individuals and 50 families experiencing chronic unsheltered homelessness. Program based on an extremely successful program that was implemented with federal funding during covid. 
• Amount: $1.4 million ongoing + $400,000 one-time

Dinky After Dark

• Description: Improved pedestrian-level lighting in the Dinkytown Marcy Holmes area to improve public safety and livability.
• Amount: $500,000 one-time.

Legislative Department Policy Specialists

• Coauthors: Council President Payne and Council Vice President Chughtai. 
• Description: Adding three subject-matter expert staff to the Legislative Department’s Policy and Research division to to support the development of city policies that meet the city’s goals. 
• Amount: $514,452 ongoing, the salary and benefits for three full-time employees. 

Traffic Calming

• Coauthors: Council Members Ellison, Cashman, Chavez, Koski, Chowdhury, and Vice President Chughtai. 
• Description: Meeting the backlog of over 850 traffic calming projects to make streets safe for all. I am also authoring a legislative directive that was written in conjunction with Public Works leadership to identify ways to improve neighborhood traffic calming programs long-term. 
• Amount: $1.5 million one-time.

Safe and Thriving Communities

• Coauthors: Council Member Chavez
• Description: Piloting new community safety programs in violence prevention, unarmed response, and/or healing and restorative services as outlined in the Safe and Thriving Communities Plan. 
• Amount: $500,000 one-time.

Immigration legal services funding

• Coauthors: Council Member Chavez and Council Vice President Chughtai
• Description: Supporting pro-bono legal services for individuals in the immigration legal system, with a priority for children and unaccompanied minors. 
• Amount: $150,000 ongoing. 

Carbon emissions mitigation staffing

• Coauthors: Council Members Cashman, Chavez, and Chowdhury and Vice President Chughtai. 
• Description: Per the recommendation of sustainability staff, adding one full-time employee to support the implementation of a carbon emissions fee on the largest polluters in the city.
• Amount: $149,617 ongoing for one full-time employee, and $125,000 one-time. 

Civilian investigators: 

• Coauthors: Council President Payne and Council Members Ellison, Osman and Chowdhury. 
• Description: The City recently approved a new contract with MPD that grants the ability to hire more civilian investigators. This new contract cost taxpayers nearly $9 million, with the new staffing flexibility touted as a crucial reform that was worth the cost. Yet the Mayor’s proposed budget includes only 2 new investigator positions. This amendment would take more advantage of this reform by adding 5 more civilian investigators to MPD who can help improve case closure and clearance rates, especially in areas with large backlogs such as homicides, domestics, crimes against children, and sex crimes. 
• Amount: $631,007 ongoing for 5 full-time employees. 

Early childhood education workforce development

• Description: Investing in programs led by early childhood organizations that are already successfully providing training, professional development, and ongoing support to Early Childhood Education workers. Workforce shortages are impacting the availability of high quality, affordable childcare options for Minneapolis families. 
• Amount: $500,000 one-time.

Safe and Thriving Communities Work Group

• Coauthors: Council Member Chavez
• Description: Budget to staff and support a community Work Group that will focus on supporting the implementation of the Safe and Thriving Communities Report and Plan, and will provide guidance on the new “Safety Center” model starting with the South Minneapolis Community Safety Center/3rd Precinct.
• Amount: $25,000 ongoing.

Reconnecting Communities matching funds

• Coauthors: Council Members Ellison and Osman
• Description: The Reconnecting Communities grant is a federal program to study removing highways and other infrastructure that divides communities, and replacing it with infrastructure that supports multimodal transportation, sustainability, public health, and equitable development. This sets aside matching funds to unlock millions of federal dollars for successful applications to Reconnecting Communities that align with existing Minneapolis policy positions, the Olson Memorial Highway/Highway 55 and Rethinking I-94. 
• Amount: $800,000 one-time, contingent on successful applications.

Senior Housing Initiative for Code Abatement

• Coauthors: Council Members Chowdhury and Koski. 
• Description: Requested by the Minneapolis Advisory Committee on Aging, this allocates funding within the Affordable Housing Trust Fund for code abatement and home repair loans for homes with one adult 55+ living in the residence. 
• Amount: $810,000 ongoing.

Neighborhood Safety Department Staff

• Coauthors: Council Member Chavez
• Description: Adding one full-time contract administrator and one full-time business data analyst to the Neighborhood Safety Department to help the department have more capacity and produce more specific and measurable data for internal operations and public clarity. 
• Amount: $271,798 ongoing for two full-time employees. 

In addition, there were two resident priorities that I found avenues to advance through legislative actions outside the budget process:

10th Ave bridge suicide prevention

• My office worked with Public Works and the University of Minnesota to identify funding plans for suicide prevention on three University area bridges.
• Public Works has funding necessary to install safety railings onto Bridge 9 (the bike and pedestrian bridge that connects the Dinkytown Greenway with the West Bank) in 2025.
• Public Works is submitting a stand-alone capital budget request of $1.7 million for safety railings for the 10th Ave Bridge in 2026.
• While the city has responsibility for Bridge 9 and the 10th Ave Bridge, the Washington Ave Bridge is under County and UMN jurisdiction. That said, I am advancing a City of Minneapolis priority for the 2025 State Legislative Session for state funding to help the County and University generate funds. 

Participatory budgeting pilots

• Rather than allocating funding in the 2025 Budget, I will be working with city staff and community members to make a legislative change to the city’s Appointed Boards and Commissions (ABCs) to make budget recommendations a standard part of their operations. Some ABCs already use this practice, and it has been a strong avenue for residents to have significant influence on the city budget based on their lived experience. The amendment I am authoring this year for $810,000 for Senior Housing Code Abatement was due to a budget recommendation by the Minneapolis Advisory Committee on Aging (MACOA). Implementing budget recommendations as part of every ABC’s work plan will standardize and institutionalize this participatory strategy. I look forward to advancing this legislative change next year. 

I am also co-authoring the following amendments:

Low-barrier employment pilot program

• Lead author: Council Member Chavez, other co-authors include Council Member Osman.
• Description: Funding a pilot program based on the successful WORK NOW Project by Ramsey County and the City of Saint Paul to employ adults encountering homelessness or housing instability with sustainable low-barrier work and income. The program will create teams of workers who will focus on cleaning up the Southside Green Zone, an area that encompasses high levels of pollution and racial, political, and economic marginalization, and is disproportionately impacted by homelessness and cleanliness issues. 
• Amount: $285,000 one-time. 

Senior Transportation Program

• Lead author: Council Member Chowdhury
• Description: Funding for community organizations to fill gaps in transportation services for senior residents. Previous funding helped successfully facilitate over 800 round-trip rides for seniors needing assistance with groceries, errands, food resources, and essential medical appointments, and more. 
• Amount: $25,000 ongoing. 

Social Housing Study

• Lead author: Council President Payne, other co-authors include Vice President Chughtai and Council Members Ellison, Chowdhury, Osman, and Chavez.
• Description: Resources for a study by subject matter experts on how the City of Minneapolis could support the development of social housing, which is a form of public housing that is permanently and deeply affordable, under community control, and exists outside of the speculative real estate market.
• Amount: $50,000 one-time.

Remaining steps in the budget process

All Council Members have submitted their proposed budget amendments to the Budget Committee leadership, Vice President Chughtai and Council Member Koski. Budget Committee leadership is now working with the Budget Department and City Attorney’s Office to complete a technical review. A packet of all Council Members’ budget amendments will be published on the legislative file for the 2025 Budget by 12pm on December 3rd. 

Residents are invited to share comments for the public record on any aspect of the city’s proposed 2025 Budget:

Testify at the Budget Committee Public Hearing

• December 10th @6:05pm
• Council Chambers of the Public Service Center (250 S 4th St., Room 350 Minneapolis, MN 55415)

Send in written testimony

• Residents can also send in written public testimony any time by emailing CouncilComment@minneapolismn.gov. 

Property tax levy

On September 18th, the Board of Estimation and Taxation (BET) set the maximum property tax levy at 8.3%, slightly higher than the Mayor's proposed 8.1%. 

Our most racially diverse and under-resourced communities will be hit the hardest from this property tax increase. Unfortunately this increase was years in the making. A combination of corporate flight from Downtown as a result of the COVID pandemic and prolonged mismanagement of key city departments such as the police department by the Frey administration has resulted in this costly outcome. 

Council is working hard to make sure that this is not the new norm. I authored a research directive to identify new revenue streams to shift some of the burden off of taxpayers which Council approved unanimously. Council is using our oversight authority to identify where mismanagement is happening across the enterprise and working with the administration on corrective actions. We are working with innovative leaders on efforts that will both help strengthen economic activity downtown and for all communities across Minneapolis. Since police misconduct, workers compensation payouts for PTSD, and two consent decrees have significantly contributed to the city’s budget challenges, Council is advancing efforts to further reign in the racist and violent practices by MPD. We are advancing successful and effective community safety initiatives to make Minneapolis a safe and welcoming place for business, entertainment, and tourism that help support our economy. These collective efforts make me extremely hopeful about our city’s future.

As always, I welcome any feedback or questions on the 2025 Budget. Please reach out to Ward2@minneapolismn.gov. City offices will be closed this Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving, and will respond to your messages when offices reopen on December 2nd. 

Sincerely, 

Council Member Robin Wonsley