27 July 2023
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter on Thursday vetoed a city council measure to put funding of early childhood initiatives on the 2024 ballot.
Carter expressed concern that the dedicated property tax levy would increase by $2 million annually in 10 years, creating a budget equal to that of the city’s library system — but likely with less oversight — to fund private childcare providers.
“While the underlying goal behind this effort — to provide quality early childhood care for every child and family in our city — is laudable, our excitement for this bold proposal must not preclude a temperate examination of its details,” according to his veto letter to the council.
The letter questioned whether the proposal would actually meet the needs of St. Paul children. While the resolution cites a need for $39 million per year to reach children up to 2 years old living at 185% of the federal poverty level, the proposed tax would only raise $20 million.
Further, the mayor’s letter expressed a concern that the resolution did not provide for proper oversight, account for the needs of historically disenfranchised communities, and that it may not have stable support heading into City Council elections.
SPARK, a coalition of childcare advocates, said in a state they were disappointed in Carter’s veto.
“We are disappointed in Mayor Carter’s decision to veto the early education measure,” said Daniel Cox, SPARK campaign manager, in a statement. “We have an opportunity to transform the way this city cares for our children and families and an opportunity to show the rest of the state what it looks like to lift up all families. The City Council passed this measure with a veto-proof majority and we’re calling on them to stand by that decision by overriding this veto.”
Council vote was 5-2
The city council voted 5-2 last week to approve the ballot language, which calls for a dedicated property tax levy that increases from $2 million to $20 million in the course of a decade. It would take five council votes to override a mayoral veto, and it remains unclear if any council members will switch their position in light of the veto.
Council Member Nelsie Yang noted that four of the seven council members are not running for re-election in November, which opens the door to further discussion over the ballot initiative in the months ahead. Proponents, including SPARK, have called for prioritizing funding childcare and early learning programs for families living below 185 percent of the federal poverty level.
“We’ve been trying to get the mayor’s support for a resolution for quite a long time,” said Yang, one of the leading voices on the council in favor of city-funded childcare subsidies. “With this term of new council members coming in, this is work we plan to continue.”
If approved next year, the special levy would be structured to raise $2 million for childcare and early learning initiatives in the first year, $4 million in the second year, $6 million in the third and so forth, reaching $20 million by year 10. The annual impact on a median-value St. Paul home would rise from $16 to about $160, according to SPARK.
A growing slate of new taxes
Council Members Mitra Jalali and Russel Balenger voted against the proposed ballot language last week, with Jalali citing concern at the time about promising taxpayer dollars for “10 years, locked in, with increases over time, for a new program that hasn’t been created yet. There’s no precedent for that.”
Meanwhile, given the city’s aging infrastructure, taxpayers are being pulled in multiple directions with requests for new municipal taxes.
The mayor has proposed tripling the city’s 0.5 percent sales tax to generate nearly $1 billion in funding for arterial road reconstruction and park improvements over 20 years. On top of that, regional sales taxes are slated to soon increase to fund public transit and housing programs across the metro, initiatives approved by the DFL-controlled Legislature in the last legislative session.
All told, the total city, county and state sales tax in St. Paul could add up to 9.875 percent, the highest in the state, raising alarm with the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce, restaurants and retailers.
St. Paul’s property tax levy has already increased 14.65 percent this year, roughly half of which was attributed to changes in how basic street maintenance is paid for. After a series of legal fights waged by churches, nonprofits and other property owners, the city has backed off annual fees and shifted the former right-of-way street maintenance program over to the tax levy.
Proponents of the early learning program have pointed out that parents with multiple children in St. Paul are paying up to $20,000 a year for child care, and underfunded programs such as Head Start, Early Head Start, existing child care assistance and early learning scholarships have generated waitlists two or three years long.
“It’s connected to workforce development,” said Yang, “instead of having to leave your job just to take care of your family.”
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