The St. Paul City Council on Wednesday approved a $515.5 million budget for next year that includes more money for economic development, libraries, building inspectors and East Side youth programs.
What won't go up is the property tax levy, which Mayor Chris Coleman proposed keeping flat for 2014 and the City Council affirmed.
The tax bill on a median-valued $130,500 home in St. Paul, including other taxing jurisdictions, will go down 6.2 percent next year, a savings of $126.
City Council President Kathy Lantry said that the budget process "went very, very well" and noted that the council made only minor changes in the mayor's budget, which he proposed in August.
As recently as two years ago, the mayor and the council engaged in last-minute budget maneuvering that uncovered a wide gap in priorities.
This time, Lantry thanked Coleman for "proposing a budget that I think met certainly most of our priorities. I'm sure we all wish we had more to spend on certain things, but on balance it really was a good budget."
It was only the second time in Coleman's eight years as mayor that he sought no increase in the tax levy. An additional $10 million in state aid was the main reason why the levy could remain flat, he said. He was re-elected in a landslide victory last month.
The final budget spends about $5 million more than Coleman's proposal, using revenues that either had been underestimated, unspent or recently added.
