Council Member Wonsley's 2026 Budget Amendments

November 21st, 2025

Dear Community,

Council is working to finalize the City Budget for 2026. The mayor proposed his budget in August. Over the coming weeks, Council Members will hold mark-up sessions where we bring forward proposed amendments, discuss them, and vote on them one by one. Once mark-ups are complete, Council will take a vote to adopt the final budget at our last meeting of the year on December 11th.  

Council’s job is to represent residents and ensure that resident priorities and needs are reflected in the budget, and ensure public dollars are being spent in effective and measurable ways in all of our City services and programs. My staff and I have worked with diverse communities across Ward 2 and the whole city to identify where there are gaps in the mayor’s proposal that could be corrected through the Council's budget mark-up process. I am proud to be authoring budget amendments that meet the needs and priorities of working class Minneapolis residents. All budget amendments reprioritize funds that are already allocated within the budget and do not increase property taxes. 

Council Member Wonsley’s 2026 Budget Amendments

• Restore Mayor’s Cuts to Emergency Housing Vouchers: $1.4 million ongoing. Last year, the City Council funded a partnership with Minneapolis Public Housing Authority and Hennepin County that would provide permanent housing and wraparound social services to 50 individuals and 50 families experiencing chronic unsheltered homelessness. Emergency Housing Vouchers have extremely successful long-term housing stability outcomes. Mayor Frey refused to implement the partnership or disperse the funding Council allocated last year and has proposed cutting the funding in 2026. Unlike the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County has nationally recognized success in reducing homelessness with Housing First programs like Emergency Housing Vouchers. I am proposing we restore this crucial Housing First program and collaborate with our government partners who are experts in housing vulnerable communities.
• Save Stable Homes Stable Schools: $970,000 ongoing. Stable Homes Stable Schools is a partnership between MPHA, the City of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, and Minneapolis Public Schools working to reduce homelessness among families with elementary-aged kids in Minneapolis through emergency and long term rental assistance. Since 2019, more than 6,600 kids and 2,300 families have benefited from the program. The Mayor’s proposed budget leaves a funding gap that could cause the program to run out of money part way through 2026. Families who rely on this program should not face uncertainty that the program will be fully funded through the year. I’m proposing funding to fill the gap for 2026 to ensure no families are impacted by housing insecurity and/or evictions.  
• Reduce Gun Violence: $815,000 ongoing/one-time. The City of St Paul launched a Non-Fatal Shooting Task Force that focused investigations into all shootings, regardless of whether or not the shooting resulted in a fatality.  The result was massive decreases in gun violence and historic lows in homicides. MPD should be utilizing data-based strategies for public safety and should replicate this program since it’s been proven to be effective in reducing gun violence. 
• Restore Mayor’s Cuts to Civilian Investigators: $230,000 ongoing. MPD has a backlog of thousands of unsolved cases, including hundreds of serious crimes like homicides, assaults, and crimes against children. MPD’s case closure rates are also below peer cities and our neighbors in St Paul. MPD has identified a need for more civilian investigators who add capacity to solving crimes. In response to this, Council added five civilian investigators for the 2025 Budget. Last week at the Public Health and Safety Committee, Council learned Mayor Frey did not authorize MPD to hire two of the investigators we funded. The Mayor is now proposing cutting these two positions completely for 2026. Failing to fund investigations harms public safety. Victims will continue to not receive closure or justice. As St. Paul has demonstrated, solving crimes has downstream impacts that help prevent future harms and violence. I and my co-authors are proposing restoring funding for the two civilian investigators. The proposed funding source for this allocation is the MPD Contract with ZenCity for Community Perception Surveying, which does not contribute to public safety. Over 2,000 residents have signed a petition asking Council to remove funding for this contract. 
• Invest in Childcare Workers: $102,000 ongoing. There is a crisis-level shortage of affordable and high quality childcare for Minneapolis families. A big reason why is because there is a shortage of childcare workers and early childhood educators. My office convened a table of stakeholders and experts on this issue including leaders at the state, Minneapolis Public Schools, nonprofits, and community members to identify priorities to respond to the childcare crisis, and expanding the workforce development pipeline has been identified as a critical component. In light of this, I am proposing a partnered effort between the City’s Employment and Training team, Minneapolis Public Schools, and Minneapolis College to support MPS students and members of the community who are interested in getting to the early care and education field. 
• Risk Management: Prevent Fraud, Waste & Abuse: $616,000 ongoing. Since entering City Hall in 2022, I have heard from residents who have been frustrated to see their taxes go up, but experience service levels below standard, or have questioned the efficacy of some City programs. These concerns have been exacerbated by media coverage about mismanagement, lawsuits, misconduct, and other potentially concerning activities by City employees. Minneapolis residents deserve to know that the City is taking every precaution to reduce the risks of fraud, waste, abuse, legal liability, and reputational damage. The public should feel full confidence that resources meant for the public good are being utilized that way. This allocation will fund the creation of an executive Office of Enterprise Risk Management. A consistent, methodical approach to risk management protects taxpayers by mitigating the city’s potential liabilities and preventing fraud, waste and abuse. 
• Fees on MPD Off-Duty Side Gigs: $329,000 ongoing. MPD officers can work “off-duty,” during which they use taxpayer-funded resources but profit personally. I led Council to pass an ordinance allowing the City to recoup the costs of public resources, which MPD estimates at around $1.4 million last year. MPD has resisted implementing these fees and does not have a line item in their proposed 2026 budget to implement this ordinance. I am earmarking the MPD budget to ensure the funds required for implementation are reserved for this work. 
• Traffic Calming for All: $5,500,000 one-time. Safe streets and sidewalks are a top priority for residents. I am proposing significant capital investments in the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program, expanding replacement of ADA ramps, and expanding bike lane safety infrastructure. This supports residents who are likely to be most impacted by unsafe traffic conditions such as youth, seniors, and residents with disabilities. It is also crucial for meeting our City’s goal of having 3 out of every 5 trips be taken without a car by 2030. The funding for this allocation comes from a proposal to build a Public Safety Training and Wellness Center. The Frey administration is proposing multiple, potentially duplicative public safety capital projects including multiple precinct renovations, the new South Minneapolis Public Safety Center, and a Safety Training Center. These various proposals lack many details, raising questions about financial efficiency in the efforts to meet the requirements of the MDHR settlement agreement. 
• Winter-Friendly Sidewalk Plowing: $595,000 ongoing. Residents continue to highlight the need for the City to take a more active role in ensuring safe, accessible sidewalks throughout the winter. This funding will help expand sidewalk plowing services on the city’s Pedestrian Priority Network, which are the sidewalks, curbs and transit stops most used by residents. In the 2024 budget mark-up Council budgeted for Public Works to pilot several different strategies for sidewalk plowing. In the beginning of 2025, Public Works shared they made an operational decision to reduce funding, resulting in a smaller pilot than Council or the public anticipated. I am proposing restoring the original funding to continue testing and evaluating sidewalk snow and ice removal approaches. The outcomes of these pilot programs can shape future policy on how to sustainably ensure safe and accessible sidewalks for all.
• Public Housing Tenant Organizing: $100,000 ongoing. The Minneapolis Highrise Representative Council (MHRC) the independent citywide public housing highrise tenant organization in Minneapolis. One of MHRC’s flagship programs is Project Lookout, a tenant-run neighborhood watch program inside the highrises. The project has been incredibly successful and is a unique and effective model of community supplemental security. 
• Fresh and Affordable Grocery Access: $200,000 one-time. Everyone deserves to have access to fresh and affordable groceries. But food insecurity and food apartheid disproportionately impact marginalized residents in Minneapolis, and the private market has not solved or corrected this problem. The City needs to take a more active role in meeting the need for fresh and affordable groceries. This funding would support development for a grocery store in partnership with stakeholders in areas of the city where residents are most impacted by food insecurity and food apartheid.  
• Policy for the People: $638,000 ongoing. This funding would support three policy specialists to support Council in policymaking for Business, Housing, and Zoning; Public Health and Safety; and Climate and Infrastructure.  A well-balanced government structure with a fully staffed legislative department that is able to support policymaking is crucial for empowering a racial-justice focused legislative branch to fulfill policy mandates. 

I encourage everyone to share your feedback on the 2026 Budget! You can visit the City’s website to learn more about the mayor’s recommended 2026 budget, details of the 2025-2026 adopted budget, quick facts, an explainer video and more.

You can submit your feedback:

• Online through the City website
• Participate in an in-person public hearing on December 9th at 6pm

As always, you can email my office with any questions, concerns or ideas at ward2@minneapolis.