The St. Paul City council has approved a limit of a 22% increase on the 2020 property tax levy. City residents are to vote on a ballot referendum in November to determine if the city will continue on with their trash collecting service, or if the city will pick up the cost, causing residents to take in possibly the third year of double-digit levy increases.
Trash collection has been a hot topic in St. Paul as the city decided to implement a city-wide trash collection service, instead of letting residents enter into individual contracts with trash haulers. A wide variety of residents complained, from those who have limited amounts of waste and shared garbage bins with their neighbors previously, to those who argue that the city-wide system costs them 2 to 2.5 times more than their previous hauler.
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in August that St. Paul’s charter indicates that residents have a right to give input, thus moving the City of Minneapolis to add the issue to the November ballot as a referendum.
Now, the St. Paul City Council is preparing for what could be the aftermath of the referendum voting by capping the 2020 property tax levy increase at 22%.
With levy increases across the board for St. Paul residents, including school board and county levies, the median-value homeowner is looking at a possible $356 increase in their property tax bill in 2020.
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Megan Olson
Megan Olson is a 2020 graduate of the University of Minnesota with degrees in political science and history. She works in public affairs in addition to serving on the Legislative Advisory Council for School District 196. She is also on the school board for FIT academy, a charter school in Apple Valley.