ST. CLOUD — Over the past two years, St. Cloud officials have prioritized beefing up the city's police force by adding 10 new officers to the ranks and nearly doubling the city's police spending from a decade ago.
But next year, if Mayor Dave Kleis' proposed budget is approved this fall, the focus will shift to keeping those officers in St. Cloud by way of competitive wages.
Kleis unveiled his budget proposal Monday at the St. Cloud City Council meeting, telling council members much of the additional dollars will go toward inflationary increases in supplies and services, as well as increased personnel costs following a recent compensation study.
"One of the most challenging things for any employer in the city ... is finding workers. City government is not immune," Kleis said. "If we didn't do that study and we didn't implement that study and it wasn't reflected in this budget, we would be down a lot of folks, particularly in the area of public safety. There is no doubt in my mind we would have lost a significant amount of police officers."
The preliminary budget includes $87.8 million in government funds, an increase of about 7% from the 2023 budget. That includes funding for approved contracts for officers, sergeants and lieutenants, which saw a 3% increase this year and an additional 3% increase effective Jan. 1.
The preliminary budget also includes one additional community service officer to account for growing demand: Next year, the community engagement division is projected to give twice as many public presentations as it did two years ago and the number of kids participating in police-affiliated sporting events is expected to double from 300 kids in 2021 to 600.
About 45% of the city's government funds budget comes from property taxes and about 18% from local government aid approved by the Legislature. Kleis is proposing a 2024 tax levy of $39.4 million, an increase of about $4.3 million over this year's levy.
But even with the proposed bump, residents likely won't see an increase in city taxes unless their property values go up. The increase in the levy mirrors the growth in taxable property the city has seen, Kleis said. Officials are estimating the tax base to grow by about 10% next year.
