Proposed 2027 City budget favors police funding

If the City Council approves the budget as is, Mayor Jacob Frey’s $2.3 billion budget would increase City spending by $270 million and the property tax levy would go up by 11.3%.
Final budget approval for the 2027-28 City of the Minneapolis budget is set for December 2026.
Most of the property taxes go into what the City of Minneapolis calls the general fund. Frey is proposing to increase it by $53 million this year (from $700 to $753 million).
Per Frey’s proposed budget, the Minneapolis Police Department costs would be 22% of the general fund budget, the Park & Recreation Board is at 16.1%, Debt Services at 12.5%, the Minneapolis Fire Department at 9%, and Public Housing at 8%.
The Mayor’s Office and City Council costs would be 4% of the proposed budget and all other departments would collectively be 18%.
Frey said 2.5% of the tax levy is reserved for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s proposed levy increase.
The Park Board had requested a 5.86% tax levy increase.

INCREASED FUNDING
The biggest winners in the mayor’s proposed budget appear to be the Minneapolis Police Department, Fire Department, and the City’s Public Works Department with a combined budget increase of $64 million. If the proposed budget is approved, MPD’s budget would go from $229 to $250 million next year (an increase of $21 million) with an additional 22 staff positions.
The Fire Department’s budget would go from $96 to $110 million (an increase of $14 million) with 14 new staff positions added.
The Public Works budget would go from $487 to $516 million (an increase of $29 million) but would lose four of its 1,058 staff that were budgeted for 2026.
The Department of Neighborhood Safety’s community safety ambassador program is also seeing a proposed increase in funding. While Frey wants to cut $2.7 million from violence interrupters program, he is proposing adding $2.3 million to the City’s community safety ambassador program and making them City employees.

PROPOSED CUTS
A major loser in the mayor’s proposed 2027-28 budget is the Racial Equity Inclusion and Belonging Department that will change from having seven staff in 2025 and five in 2026, to two in 2027. It will also lose its status as a department in 2027 and move into the Human Resources’ Learning and Development division.
The Human Resources Department itself is facing a staffing cut of six positions in the proposed budget.
There are two other small departments proposed to be absorbed by larger departments.
If the budget passes, the Neighborhood and Community Engagement Department would move into the City’s Communications Department.
The Communications Department is seeing a budget cut of $5 million (from $17 to $12 million) and a reduction of seven positions.
The Performance Management and Innovation Department would move into the Office of Public Service with a proposed staff reduction of four positions.
The mayor’s proposed budget is also cutting $6 million from the Health Department’s budget, including $3.6 million with contracted services including non-profits and health providers.
The violence interrupter program cut of $2.7 million leaves the program with only $800,000 – to which Frey said, they have “not demonstrated the level of results taxpayers deserve.”
The mayor’s proposed budget also cuts $4 million from the Climate Legacy Initiative Fund, which reduces a prior commitment to use a portion of increased franchise fees from CenterPoint Energy and Xcel Energy to reach the City’s climate goals.

ELECTED OFFICIALS RESPOND
Since the mayor’s budget presentation, elected officials have shared concerns about where the cuts are coming from and the levy increase that is expected to put a higher relative burden on residential property owners. (Residential property values have recently been rising more than commercial property values have.)
Frey’s proposed increase “seriously underfunds our parks and will result in major reductions to service levels,” Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board President Tom Olsen said in an online post.
“Frey’s recommendation of a 2.5% tax increase for the Park Board is unrealistic,” said Board of Estimate & Taxation President Steven Brandt in a social media post. “Given that the Park Board depends much more on property taxes to balance its budget than does the city.”
Ward 12 Council Member Aurin Chowdhury said that many residents are concerned about the proposed levy.
“Ward 12 property values have risen, which in turn has increased the tax burden on our ward,” said Chowdhury in an email. “I hear the concerns from residents who are already struggling with the cost of living and cannot afford to pay even more."
Ward 11 Council Member Jamison Whiting is hopeful that the mayor and council can work to develop a budget that will fund core programs residents rely on in ways that are affordable for them and has prioritized “programs that reduce disparities for all residents, and a broad public safety ecosystem centered on police reform.”
Ward 8 Council Member Soren Stevenson is concerned about both the levy increase and many of the proposed cuts.
“Raising property taxes while making cuts to vital programs and laying off staff is a betrayal to the residents who care for and invest in our city,” Stevenson said in an email.
"If Ward 12 residents are shouldering a significant share of the cost of city government,” Chowdhury added, “they should see that investment reflected in reliable, effective services.”
The Board of Estimate & Taxation is expected to adopt the maximum property tax levy being asked of all government bodies on Sept. 23, and the City Council will set it when they approve the budget which the Mayor can veto.
Board of Estimate & Taxation members are Brandt, Eric Harris Bernstein –who were directly elected to the board – as well as Frey, Olsen, Council Member Aisha Chughtai, and City Council President Elliott Payne.

Where to cut the proposed budget
Elected officials are zeroing in on MPD as a place to cut the proposed budget.
“I’d like to see careful consideration of whether the City needs that many officers,” Brandt said. Brandt pointed to technological advances and the development of the behavioral crisis response team since the City Charter’s staffing formula for MPD was developed in the 1960s.
“The levy increase is driven by a couple of failures, one is to reign in police department spending,” said Chughtai.
Stevenson agrees.
“MPD has been unable to explain why or how they have been surpassing their budget by $20-30 million a year,” Stevenson said. “Issues like uncontrolled police overtime spending could be addressed by better management, but instead the proposed budget accepts it as a given.”
Stevenson has also identified objections to many recommended cuts, including housing inspections, municipal sidewalk shoveling, climate resiliency, homelessness response and cuts to the Civil Rights and Neighborhood and Community Relations departments.
Stevenson and Chughtai are both concerned that there are few management positions being cut.
“We are seeing cuts at the bottom, and I see the refusal to cut from the top as being short sighted,” Chughtai said.
“This is a betrayal to the City employees that keep our city running,” said Stevenson.
The next few months are likely to be challenging as the council works to change Frey’s proposal into a budget that can be adopted by the end of the year.
Learn more about the budget process and see upcoming meetings on the City’s website.