Mayor Betsy Hodges

Minneapolis

I am the 47th mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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A Balanced Approach: 2017 Budget Adopted By City Council

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The Minneapolis City Council this evening approved my proposed 2017 budget for the City of Minneapolis that makes significant, intentional investments in improving public safety and public trust, enhancing Minneapolis streets and parks, managing Minneapolis’ strong growth, racial equity, and good government.

Through balancing innovative investments in community policing and community-based safety strategies, we have changed the center of gravity on how we think about public safety in Minneapolis. In the 21st-century, safety and trust are inextricably intertwined.

We are going to need to come together and work with community to think about how to keep our communities safe for the next four years. Tonight, we chose to make increased investments in partnerships with community that will build public safety, and increased investments in the Police Department that will build public trust. We will need those resources in the years ahead.

Highlights of the adopted 2017 budget include:

  • $1,305,000 for fifteen new sworn Minneapolis Police officers: 12 for community policing, and three for a police/mental health co-responder pilot program.
  • More than $1 million for community-based strategies to improve public safety.
  • More than $1 million annually for a new, ongoing Community Service Officer class to build more capacity for a proven, effective pathway into the police department for people of color.
  • $400,000 for five additional full-time sworn firefighters, which will allow the Minneapolis Fire Department to better serve residents and reduce overtime dollars.
  • A total of $14.5 million in affordable housing development, including a Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing strategy, the Family Housing Initiative, and additions to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

Budgets are always an exercise in balance, and this budget is no exception: I am proud of the balance that we have struck between providing basic services and responding to the changing needs of our city and the people we serve. I thank my colleagues on the City Council for their close and thoughtful consideration of this budget. I look forward to the results that it will bring for the people and businesses of Minneapolis.

A Responsible, Balanced Tax Levy

The  recommended property-tax levy, which the City Council also adopted, provides the resources to ensure that the City runs well, makes critical investments, and begin to implement the landmark, 20-year agreement to fund the infrastructure and operations of neighborhood parks and City streets.

In addition, the levy ensures that the City is positioned to respond to the uncertainties of the statewide and national political climate in the coming year.

2017 Budget Investments

Public Safety and Public Trust

  • $1,305,000 for fifteen new sworn Minneapolis Police officers: 12 for community policing, and three for a police/mental health co-responder pilot program.
  • Nearly $1 million for community-based strategies to improve public safety, including:
    • $500,000 for collaborative, community-driven, public-safety strategies in two locations with high levels of youth violence: West Broadway between Lyndale and Girard, and Little Earth. This innovative initiative will provide technical and financial resources for residents and business owners of these areas, and the community-based organizations that serve them, to decide for themselves what downstream public-safety interventions would best improve public safety there.
    • An additional $100,000 for similar strategies in the neighborhoods of Ventura Village and Phillips West.
    • $290,000 for a Group Violence Intervention strategy, a collaboration among the Health Department, MPD, and the community that offers support and resources to offenders who leave violence behind, and holds accountable those who do not. These resources are in addition to a $250,000 federal grant to implement Group Violence Intervention.
    • $62,000 to enhance the hospital-based intervention strategy to reduce gun violence.
    • $200,000 for mental health co-responders to be paired with sworn officers in the co-responder pilot program. This is community-based public-safety initiative is often requested by community members, and is a recommendation of the City’s Police Conduct Oversight Commission.
  • More than $1 million annually for a new, ongoing Community Service Officer class to build in more capacity for a proven, effective pathway for people of color to become sworn police officers.
  • Ongoing resources to manage and operate the Minneapolis Police Department body-worn camera program.
  • An additional position in the Department of Civil Rights to investigate complaints of discrimination and hate crimes, which are already on the rise.
  • $400,000 for five additional full-time sworn firefighters, which will allow the Minneapolis Fire Department to better serve residents and reduce overtime dollars.
  • An additional civilian case investigator at the Office of Police Conduct Review, and improvements to the process of filing misconduct cases.

Equity

  • Advancing the Mayor’s “Talking is Teaching: Talk, Read, Sing” campaign to close the word gap and prepare our children for success.
  • New investments in the work of the My Brother’s Keeper initiative.
  • Supporting the annual Trans* Equity Summit and working to provide access to gender-neutral bathrooms in public buildings.
  • Investing in Somali youth programs and engaging East African people with disabilities.
  • Implicit-bias training for all City of Minneapolis staff.

Managing Growth

  • A total of $14.5 million in affordable housing development, including a Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing strategy, the Family Housing Initiative, and additions to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
  • Funding for traffic control agents to ease the transition to modernized downtown streets and manage upcoming events.
  • A lead appraiser in the City Assessor’s office to capture fairly the financial benefits of our growing city.

A “Get to Yes” City

  • A team of who will help small businesses succeed, and will lead a customer-service focus at the City that helps anyone who wants to invest in Minneapolis “get to yes.”

Good Government

  • City staff improvements, including a customer service representative in Minneapolis Animal Care and Control, a records specialist in the City Clerk’s office, and an additional auditor in the City Auditor’s office.
  • Investing in outreach and education on Earned Sick and Safe Time, and renewing the Green Business Cost Sharing program.
  • New training for city employees, including training and licensure in the City Assessor’s office, training for our improved 911 call system, and information governance training across the city enterprise.
  • Creating new pathways into City careers to attract and develop new talent.
  • Sustainability work, including accepting grant funding from the Rockefeller Foundation for a Chief Resilience Officer, continuing funding for the successful Clean Energy Partnership, and implementing the commercial building efficiency component of the city’s Climate Action Plan.

Apply now: help us achieve our clean energy goals

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Last week I attended the first meeting of the newly formed Clean Energy Partnership board. It was an exciting day, one that showed the tangible results of this community’s efforts to achieve our clean energy goals, including reducing greenhouse gases, increasing energy efficiency and renewable energy, and making energy more affordable and reliable for everyone.

                                                                                                                                           Read more about the Clean Energy Partnership here.

                                                                                                                                            The Clean Energy Partnership is a first-of-its-kind City-utility collaboration that includes the City of Minneapolis, Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy. I’m proud to chair this board, as the City and the utilities work to make progress on our shared goals.

                                                                                                                                              But we want the community involved in that work, too. After all, it was the community who helped us reach this point through its passion and advocacy.

                                                                                                                                        Please consider applying to serve on the Energy Vision Advisory Committee (EVAC). This committee will play a critical role in shaping the partnership board’s work, providing feedback on the board’s work plan and performance reports, offering expertise, and representing Minneapolis communities.

                                                                                                                                          We’re hoping to assemble a diverse board to represent a multitude of viewpoints, including labor and industry; public buildings; community organizations; business interests; students and academia; environmental justice, and more.

                                                                                                                                                I’m hoping you’ll join us as we continue in this important work, preparing for our energy future.

                                                                                                                                               Apply now for the Energy Vision Advisory Committee – applications are due February 20.