Mayor Frey proposes 2027 Budget

August 12th, 2026

Dear Community,

Earlier today, Mayor Frey published his proposed City Budget for 2027. Mayor Frey’s proposal includes a 11.3% increase in property taxes, which would cause a significant increase to the cost of living for both homeowners and renters. Mayor Frey’s proposal does not include any improved services for residents. Instead, Mayor Frey proposes cutting 100 public sector jobs, serious cuts to departments that deliver critical services to residents, and increasing the Minneapolis Police Department budget by over $18 million. 

I hear regularly from constituents that they do not feel they are receiving City services that are proportional to the property taxes they pay. My priority for the 2027 budget will be to reprioritize Mayor Frey’s budget proposal to invest in programs with measurable benefits for residents, and cut programs that do not deliver for residents. 

The City Budget is a large document, and I will be reviewing Mayor Frey’s proposal in detail over the coming weeks. But there are a few things that immediately stand out to me as concerns that must be addressed:

• Arbitrarily increasing MPD’s budget by over $18 million regardless of public safety outcomes. For over a year, MPD has been unable to explain the decisions behind their budget. This is massively inflating property taxes without using data to prioritize programs that deliver for residents. For the last several years, Mayor Frey has increased MPD’s budget by millions without providing any specifics on how resources will be used effectively. Mayor Frey continues that practice in 2027 by proposing an additional $13.1 for MPD overtime, which has no measurable outcomes for public safety. He is also proposing an additional $4 million for police recruitment, while also acknowledging that recruiting more officers doesn’t bring down overtime costs. Recent data also shows that the number of officers doesn’t necessarily improve public safety: MPD clearance rates for homicides and 911 response times are significantly better than they were in 2016, when MPD had nearly 900 officers. Property taxes will continue to go up as long as MPD and Mayor Frey allow MPD to drain the City budget for programs that are not supported by data. Public safety funding should be prioritized for programs with data-backed outcomes, like the non-fatal shooting task force or behavioral crisis response.
• Under-resourcing rental housing inspections and handouts for slumlords. Mayor Frey proposes cutting nine staff from the Regulatory Services Department, which is responsible for rental housing inspections and enforcing other liveability issues. This is unacceptable, especially when the City’s failures to oversee rental licensing at Heritage Park and other properties is impacting thousands of vulnerable residents. The Mayor is also requesting that the City Council approve a 2027 Fee Schedule that would continue to subsidize landlords and slumlords by over $3 million/year instead of having them pay their fair share. 
• Cuts to programs that working class people rely on. The Mayor proposes cutting the municipal sidewalk plowing program that the City Council funded to support safe and accessible sidewalks year-round. This modest program has successfully improved safe and accessible winter pedestrian conditions citywide, which helps the City meet our goals of reducing car usage. The Mayor also proposes significant cuts to the Department of Neighborhood and Community Relations, which houses critical services like transportation for seniors, legal services for immigrants, and other community-based needs. I am deeply concerned about these cuts and will be seeking more information on what programs may be impacted.
• Cutting $4 million from climate legacy funds. Last year, the City Council increased utility franchise fees to support the City’s climate action goals. The increase brought in $4 million dollars that were supposed to be used to lower energy bills for working families. At the time, Mayor Frey opposed the increase to franchise fees. Now, he is proposing cutting the nearly $4 million altogether– essentially using it to close the gaps created by MPD’s budget increases rather than using effective management to reduce police overtime.
• Continues to subsidize MPD officers’ private side hustles by over $1.4 million. MPD officers can work “off-duty,” meaning they use City owned cars, uniforms and weapons while working private side jobs as security guards. The officers keep the payment for these jobs and residents get nothing. The City Council approved fees on MPD off-duty work that would recoup about $1.4 million or more each year to cover the cost of public resources being used to subsidize officers’ private side jobs. Mayor Frey has refused to implement these fees in 2026, and has not indicated any intention to implement them in 2027. A multi-million dollar subsidy to officers’ personal income is unacceptable. 

You can review the full Budget Book here. In previous years, the Budget Book included information on the impacts that residents would feel from any proposed cuts. This is the first year since the implementation of the strong mayor system that the Budget Book does not include any rationale for why the cuts are proposed or what the impact on residents might be. This is a concerning choice by the Frey administration to provide less information which limits transparent and data-backed governance. In challenging fiscal years, transparency about cuts and their impacts is more important than ever.

As local officials, we must be extremely targeted in budgeting public resources to provide residents the services that they rely on and pay for. We cannot afford to fund initiatives that provide no measurable results for residents. Difficult cuts must be made, but those cuts need to be grounded in data and equity.

I look forward to working with the community and my colleagues to build a 2027 Budget that prioritizes working class residents.