Coleman to present plan to deal with St. Paul's big budget challenge

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman will start meeting with community members next week to talk about the city's biggest budget challenge: how to pay for street maintenance.

Coleman is proposing a maintenance funding plan that differs from what some City Council members want the city to consider, and the meetings could offer a preview of the upcoming debate over the 2018 budget.

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled last year that the city's right of way assessment program, which funded street upkeep, was a tax, and the city was making tax-exempt organizations pay it. The ruling sent the city scrambling to deal with a more than $30 million budget gap this year and left officials questioning how to cover future maintenance costs.

Coleman's staff came up with a plan he and Finance Director Todd Hurley will present at three locations around the city this month ahead of the mayor's August budget address. It includes shifting some services, like snowplowing, to the general fund, which is paid for using property taxes. But the city would continue to assess property owners for some work, like street lighting and sweeping.

"The mayor is going to take to the community what has happened and how he is proposing to fix it," Coleman's spokesman Ben Petok said, and the plan is to collect the same amount of money, just in a different way.

Last week, City Council members asked staff to look into another option: funding all street maintenance through the general fund. They directed staff to give a report in September with the pros and cons and an implementation strategy.

That could be a "more fair and straightforward" approach, Council Member Jane Prince said. But she said she hasn't made up her mind and sees the benefit of continuing some assessments because the city can collect them from its many tax-exempt property owners, like colleges and health care centers.

The mayor will get feedback at the July meetings, Petok said, and after his budget presentation next month, City Council will weigh in. The first community meeting is at 6 p.m. Monday at Highland Park Community Center.

"I expect there will be a negotiation as there is every year," Petok said. "We've all got priorities."