Minneapolis politics, slightly ground down

A Minneapolis politics podcast hosted by four-term Ward 2 city council veterans Cam Gordon and Robin Garwood, with longtime activist Jesse Mortenson

Proposed Budget: Winners, Losers and Levies, w/ Eric Harris Bernstein

September 14, 2026

The mayor dropped his proposed budget, which features both a property tax increase and significant cuts. We dig into the winners, losers, and levy dynamics of this proposed budget. We also tackle the substantial growth of spending on police and overtime, as well as painful cuts to climate change mitigation, regulatory services, and more. Is this a temporary period of budget pain, or should we be planning for a durable emergency? Are we doing enough to meet the kind of challenges that are upstream of fears about safety and despair about our ability to solve collective problems?

Our guest for this session was Eric Harris Bernstein, elected member of the Board of Estimate and Taxation.

Recorded 9/9/26.

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Offical City Budget Info

Media Coverage

Elected Official Statements

These notes collected prior to recording, from various sources (some above). Not in any particular order.

  • Council President Payne:
    • making what Council President Elliott Payne described as significant service cuts. (Insight News)
    • “We particularly need more scrutiny around police overtime spending and financial controls (or lack thereof),” Payne wrote in an Aug. 14 Ward 1 update. (Insight)
  • Mayor Frey:
    • "If the BET sides with the park board, Frey said, “You know who would be hurt by that? The taxpayer.”" (Strib)
    • "The 2026 budget included about $2.3 million for police overtime, but Frey said that was “never anywhere close to accurate”" (MPR)
      • "But this year, Frey said, hiring went up. Those officers don’t take shifts right away — instead, they start training. Frey said the result was more officers on payroll, but not enough on the streets to curb the need for overtime. “There was a flood of applicants,” Frey said. “We did not anticipate such an increase in the number of officers that we got." (MPR)
      • "And Frey said he’d like to hire beyond that number, too — closer to the 888 sworn officers that the department had at the start of 2020. City administrators say the cost of supporting that many officers would be comparable to the city’s current spending on police overtime." (MPR)
  • CM Stevenson: overspending on police opinion piece in the Strib
  • CM Rainville:
    • "you notice no buildings were burned down" during metro surge Fox9
    • “What I don’t understand is if you’re gonna lay off [people], why don’t you lay off until you get down to 4% [or] 5%?” Rainville said of property tax increases. “Nobody wants to touch that.” (Strib)
    • "Back in January and February with Operation Metro Surge, we had a lot of pub safety people working day and night keeping us safe. You notice there were no buildings burned down during then," Rainville told FOX 9 Tuesday." (Fox 9)
  • CM Wonsley:
    • MPLS Times reprint of constituent email
    • "Mayor Frey proposes cutting 100 public sector jobs, serious cuts to
    • departments that deliver critical services to residents, and increasing the Minneapolis Police Department budget by over $18 million"
    • "Recent data also shows that the number of officers doesn’t necessarily improve public safety: MPD clearance rates for homicides and 911 response times are significantly better than they were in 2016, when MPD had nearly 900 officers. Property taxes will continue to go up as long as MPD and Mayor Frey allow MPD to drain the City budget for programs that are not supported by data. Public safety funding should be prioritized for programs with data- backed outcomes, like the non-fatal shooting task force or behavioral crisis response."
    • "Mayor Frey proposes cutting nine staff from the Regulatory Services Department, which is responsible for rental housing inspections and enforcing other liveability issues"
    • "Cutting $4 million from climate legacy funds"
    • "Continues to subsidize MPD officers’ private side hustles by over $1.4 million. ... Mayor Frey has refused to implement these fees in 2026, and has not indicated any intention to implement them in 2027"
    • "This is the first year since the implementation of the strong mayor system that the Budget Book does not include any rationale for why the cuts are proposed or what the impact on residents might be"
  • CM Vetaw
    • Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw said of Frey’s proposed levy increase, “I gotta take that back to north Minneapolis. It’s double digits. It’s always shocking when folks are living paycheck to paycheck, barely making it, and you have to put out a number like that.” (Strib)
  • CM Chughtai
    • "Council Member Aisha Chughtai, who chairs the Budget Committee, said the city needs to rein in “reckless spending” by police. “The Minneapolis Police Department is defunding our city,” she said." (Strib)
  • Park Board President Tom Olsen
    • “Our 5.86% ask is the bare minimum needed to maintain current service levels,” Olsen said. (Combs)
    • "Olsen agrees, saying, “We get what we pay for. I don’t know why we would want to lower ourselves to what other cities have.” (Sttib)

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