St. Paul mayor to propose budget amid controversies

St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her is expected to present her proposed city budget Thursday at 11 a.m. at Allianz Field.

It’s the mayor’s first budget address and will outline her priorities for the year ahead. Her has not revealed what’s in the 2027 budget, but it will likely aim to tighten a $26 million gap.

When then-state Rep. Her ran for the city’s top job against Mayor Melvin Carter in 2025, she promised to diversify the city’s economy.

“We need a St. Paul that is focused on expanding our revenue stream so that our budget isn’t balanced on the backs of our residents’ property taxes and rents,” she told MPR News after her election to office.

City Council President Rebecca Noecker said she agrees with the idea of coming up with different revenue streams.

“We need to be creative, especially again at a time when we don’t have help from the federal government, when our state government has consistently failed to deliver on their promise of local government aid,” Noecker said.

Her campaigned on revitalizing the downtown and Midway neighborhoods and on creating a more business-friendly city.

Noecker said she wants to make sure that next year’s budget preserves services that people depend on — the basics of city government that affect peoples’ everyday lives.

“The budget is the document that reflects our values as a community and that shows how we’re planning to spend our dollars at a most basic level. What we’re prioritizing, whether that’s city services, whether that’s staff, whether that’s capital projects like streets,” Noecker said.

Changing the subject

Her’s budget address is also a way for the mayor to shift the conversation.

Mayor Her’s short time in office has been controversial. The administration’s clearing of encampments has drawn pushback by critics. And she was recently accused of sexual harassment by St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry. He filed a complaint against the mayor for text messages she sent to city employees.

Ward 1 City Council member Anika Bowie said she wants to let the process play out, but there is an elephant in the room.

“What makes a good leader is someone who can remain focused in the world as a woman of color who’s in elected position. There is a lot of distractions that can be thrown at you,” Bowie said. “At the end of the day, people have voted for you to be focused.”

Mayor Her said she’s cooperating with the investigation.

What do residents want to see in the budget?

Stephanie Veatch, of Dayton’s Bluff, was outside a Mississippi Market on East 7th Street after a shopping run. She said infrastructure should be in the budget.

“I hope that the budget continues to address some of the public infrastructure that we need improvements on here and continually need improvements on. We need better roads. We need better sewers,” Veatch said.

Robert McWhite, who lives in Cathedral Hill, said he has seen the waterways out west like the Colorado River.

“When I come back to Minnesota, I realize how lucky we are to have all these wetlands. So I would just suggest that we protect those wetlands. They’re really our bread and butter here in Minnesota,” McWhite said.

Lauralie Millikan, who lives in the Mac-Groveland neighborhood, was riding her bike in the Starbucks lot in Highland Park.

“We need some more money for infrastructure, streets, parks. I think we need an adequate budget for crime prevention, for the police,” Millikan said.

Millikan doesn’t think Summit Avenue needs new bike lanes.

The St. Paul City Council will hold budget meetings at on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. beginning next week. The public is encouraged to attend.