On August 14, Mayor Coleman delivered his proposed 2015 budget, thus beginning the annual process of the City Council's budget deliberations. On the whole, I am very pleased with the direction the Mayor set for 2015. In particular, his increased attention to our arterial streets follows the lead of the City Council as communicated earlier this summer.

Our streets

The plan to reinvest in our arterial streets moves beyond simple maintenance to strategic investments in quality of life. For example, streets to be improved such as Wheelock Parkway and Johnson Parkway make up part of St. Paul's "Grand Rounds," which will ultimately create a loop of parkways throughout the City designed to accommodate safe bicycling and walking. The plan also calls for the completion of the first phase (Jackson Street) of the recently proposed downtown bicycle loop, which will create an attractive, safe place to bicycle and walk around and through the core of downtown St. Paul.

In Ward 4, streets to be either milled and overlayed or reconstructed either this fall or next year include parts of Cretin (Summit to University) and Raymond Avenues (Bayless to Como Avenues), as well as Fairview Avenue from Selby to University.

The Mayor also proposed a $2 million infusion into Dickerman Park. This park is a little-known piece of enormous economic development potential in Ward 4. Dickerman Park is comprised of what looks like the front yards of properties on the north side of University Avenue from Fairview to Aldine . It was deeded to the City by the Dickerman family a century ago, but was never developed into a true park. In recent years, community groups including the Hamline Midway Coalition and Friends of the St. Paul Parks and Trails have been tirelessly advocating for the development of Dickerman Park, and their work and perseverance has finally paid off. The Trust for Public Land, a national nonprofit, worked with the City to develop a recently completed new plan to increase the amount of green and open space accessible along the Green Line. Dickerman Park is one of the few parks in the plan where the City already owns the land. I have been working with the Parks department to initiate a design process for the park, which will include community representation and input.

Current view of Dickerman Park, from the west. Photo by Tim Kiser.

The Midway YMCA has announced a capital campaign to rebuild its long-standing facility which abuts Dickerman Park. I'm confident that a new, updated Midway YMCA and a new Dickerman Park will build off the excitement around the Green Line and spur additional new development adjacent to the park.

Recycling

One notable hole in the Mayor's proposed budget is funding for recycling program improvements as promised last year. In 2015, we were supposed to be switching from blue bins being picked up on the curb, to wheeled, covered carts being picked up in the alley. Eureka Recycling and Public Works were not able to reach a mutually agreeable solution on how to finance this upgrade, and therefore changes were not included in the budget. In spite of this setback, I am hopeful that the Council will be able to make some progress towards this important change that will help increase recycling and that within the next 3 years we will also add alley-side household organics collection.  

In the perpetual good news/bad news of property value and property taxes (link to property tax trends report PDF), residential property values in the City have stabilized with the County Assessor determining that the average home in St. Paul is increasing in market value by 11% in 2015. The downside of this trend, coupled with flat growth in commercial/industrial property values, is that the state's property tax formula will shift some of the overall burden of property taxes in 2015 from commercial/industrial property to residential property. What's more, values in some neighborhoods including Macalester-Groveland are increasing faster than those in the City as a whole (perhaps in part due to the growing trend of tear-downs and rebuilds in Mac-Grove and Highland). As a result of these generally positive trends, many homeowners in Macalester-Groveland and some other parts of the City including Dayton's Bluff and the Greater East Side will see substantial property tax increases in 2015 no matter what the Mayor and City Council decide to do with the City levy. The Mayor has proposed a 2.4% levy increase, and the Council will set the 2015 maximum levy later in September.     

Tracking budget discussions and sharing your thoughts 

You can always contact me directly about the budget, or attend public hearings related to the budget: November 5 at 5:30pm to comment on proposed fees for water, sewer, and recycling, and the Truth in Taxation hearings on December 3 at 6:30pm. Both hearings take place in the Council Chambers on the 3rd floor of City Hall, 15 W Kellogg Blvd.

Citywide Bike Plan timeline update