Hodges greets tame crowd on the budget

Affordable housing, rising property values, vehicle congestion and neighborhood funding were on the minds of inquiring residents at a budget forum featuring Mayor Betsy Hodges Wednesday night.

Taxes did not dominate the discussion at Mayflower Church near the city's southern border, possibly because the meeting occurred before residents had received their truth in taxation notices. The mayor's office said it is only such meeting Hodges will be holding outside City Hall.

The mayor's proposed budget would raise an additional $6.7 million through property taxes, much of which will be devoted to increased parks funding, bills for road repair and some extra spending measures. A public comment on the budget will be held at 6:05 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.

The plan must first pass muster with the City Council, which will begin its deliberations on Dec. 2. Some of them have expressed concerns with redirected neighborhood funds, cuts to public art, fire staffing levels and protected bike lanes.

Toward the end of the two-hour-long meeting in the church basement, Tangletown resident Mary Linnihan said her home's value is increasing rapidly merely because of its desirable location -- generating higher taxes.

"Every time we get the proposed assessment, I have to call the city and beat them back and say we have done nothing to this house," Linnihan said. She and her husband recently remodeled and she is concerned that they will soon be priced out.

"My question is how much is too much," Linnihan said. "We've worked hard to get where we are….I feel like as we wind down to getting close to retirement, the taxes just keep soaring and it doesn't seem quite fair that we may possibly be run out of our house because of that."

"The great thing is that your house is worth a lot more money," Hodges said. "The hard thing is that you don't realize that until you sell it. That's where the hard part comes in in terms of having that appreciating property."

Erik Scheurle asked why the city has regularly failed to meet its goal of funding affordable housing at $10 million a year. "Can we in this budget and future budgets commit to invest in our future and create the needed affordable housing?" he asked.

Hodges said that the city faced tremendous financial pressures for several years, making the investment difficult along with spending for basic services.

"I share the disappointment that that wasn't possible," Hodges said, adding that she has proposed investing an additional $1 million in affordable housing. Her office says that would bring the 2015 total to $9.1 million when combined with other sources.

One man said he supports Hodges' goals of reducing vehicle density in the city, but objects to the proposal for $750,000 in new protected bike lanes. "My concern with protected bike lanes is there doesn't seem to be any vested interest [among] those that use them as far as the maintenance and upkeep," he said, noting that as a driver he pays a number of vehicle-related taxes to help maintain roads.

Former Council Member Lisa McDonald said she wanted to know more about how the city was going to improve its street plowing and sidewalk shoveling operations. "I live over on Lake Harriet where people should have the money to shovel their sidewalks," McDonald said. "But ... it's not getting done."

Hodges noted that her budget proposes a new policy of clearing sidewalk corners after mayor storms and also allocates new funds for clearing snow from protected bikeways.

"The enforcement issues around sidewalk clearing, that is a conversation we've been having as a city," Hodges said. McDonald responded that the city does not have enough inspectors to enforce sidewalk clearing.

Hetal Dalal, chair of the Kingfield Neighborhood Association, asked the mayor about her plans to spend excess funds earmarked for neighborhoods on closing the city's port, two communications specialists, and a community participation grant program. Some neighborhood groups say the money was intended for them, however.

Hodges said the port closure was "a neighborhood improvement project if there ever was one." The communications staffers will help translate materials into other languages.