While there is little doubt that St. Paul is facing a serious deterioration of streets, bridges and parks in Minnesota’s capital city, the campaign in support of the proposed 1% sales tax increase on Tuesday’s ballot fails to tell whole story of how the sales tax will be spent.

Indeed, the tax increase will help restore 46.3 miles of 24 arterial/collector streets over the next 20 years and allocate approximately $100 million for badly needed deferred maintenance throughout our parks system. But it will also be used to make way for the highly controversial Summit Avenue bike trail and is proposed to fund several “mega” projects, worthy of any mayor’s legacy.

These include the Downtown River Balcony (in concert with the County’s proposed $788 million River’s Edge luxury development); the Mississippi River Learning Center at Crosby Park; and a “multipurpose, multi-sport, multi-use” regional athletic complex in St. Paul’s north end, ironically on the site of the failed Arlington Sports Dome.  These three are among 19 new capital bonding requests sent to the Minnesota Office of Management & Budget last month, many of which will match legislative funding with the local 1 percent, and most of which call for construction to begin over the next five years.

Additionally, as noted by Public Works Director Sean Kershaw at a July 19 meeting of the city council, the sales tax proceeds “will not be used for ongoing street maintenance, street sweeping, patching and other things like that.” That means the remaining 716 miles of city streets, many of which are also in disrepair, will continue to be covered by city’s operating budget – paid for by property taxes, which continue to be completely inadequate for upkeep of our citywide infrastructure. (In the first three months of 2023, the city had received 250 claims for automobile damage caused by the rough roads, compared to 85 in all of 2022.)

Mayor Carter stated at a press conference in April at the city’s asphalt plant that “our goal is to transition ourselves from chasing potholes around our community to really rebuilding and reconstructing our streets.” However, by focusing on building the exorbitantly priced new capital facilities outlined above, rather than properly funding annual road maintenance, chasing potholes is exactly what the city will be doing for the next several decades.

The reality of this ballot initiative is that taxpayers are being sold a bait and switch. The mega projects envisioned by the mayor will require additional funding from the Legislature to construct. And if any of these are constructed, how in the world will the city afford the huge price tags for staff and ongoing operations and maintenance? You and I both know that the solution will be ongoing increases in the city’s property tax levy, yet another regressive burden on top of a potential sales tax increase. And THAT is exactly how we got here in the first place.

While talking with my constituents at the doors this summer and fall, I have heard a consistent theme: Why are the high property taxes we’re paying not taking care of our infrastructure and providing the quality of services we deserve?

And, as some of my neighbors put it, “If I really thought the sales tax would make things better, I’d vote for it. But I fear the money will just be used for more fancy projects that we don’t really need and as a city, we can’t afford.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Jane L. Prince, an East Side resident for 40 years, is a member of the St. Paul City Council, representing Ward 7. She was first elected in 2015. Her current term expires this year, and she’s not running for re-election. Prior to serving on the council, Prince worked in the administration of former Mayor George Latimer, as an aide to former council member Jay Benanav and in a variety of volunteer civic roles.

Related Articles

Soucheray: Values? These aren’t values. This is an agenda

Kyle, Kulas: St. Paul sales tax referendum? Let’s hit ‘pause’

Letters: The climate case for Summit Avenue changes doesn’t hold up

Real World Economics: Bonds are in the news. But what exactly is going on?

Skywatch: Chilling under the thrilling November sky