ST. PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said city staff cannot implement a child care subsidy program supported by a property tax levy Should voters approve it this fall, This underlines the clash between him and members of the city council that has been brewing over the past year.
The new special tax would raise $2 million in the first year and increase to $20 million in the tenth year of implementation, for a total investment of $110 million over ten years.
Advocates believe it’s a step in the right direction to find solutions to a persistent problem facing young families. Opponents, like Carter, believe the plan will exceed promises but will not be sufficiently delivered.
The funding would support a “last dollar” early childhood learning program that would close the gap left after taking into account any state or federal child care assistance, but would only support about 150 families in the first year, according to a projection drawn up by an advisor on the program. Last year, more than 4,000 children were expected to benefit from the program annually.
In a letter to the City Council late last week, Carter underscored his concerns, arguing that the ballot measure’s language is misleading because it suggests all low-income children will benefit, while only a fraction will.
He also said the city has neither the staff nor the infrastructure to take on such a program and that the City Council cannot force the board to implement the program — or implement it itself.
“My government must respectfully decline to propose, plan, staff and/or implement any programs based on the outcome of this referendum,” he wrote.
In an interview with WCCO, he reiterated that he does not believe the city can follow through on the plan.
“It’s just not possible,” Carter said of the proposal in an interview with WCCO. “So it’s not a promise that we can – with any integrity – look our voters in the eye and tell them that they can adhere to it.”
Councilwoman Rebecca Noecker, one of the bill’s sponsors, rejected Carter’s claims that the language is misleading, saying she regularly talks to constituents about the topic and they understand what the intent is.
“There’s a real disconnect when the mayor says the voters don’t understand what this is about and says he won’t follow the will of the voters,” she told WCCO.
She said the implementation plan recently approved by the council sets aside a portion of the levy revenue to support new staff to administer the program, should voters approve it.
For the average home priced at $275,300, the proposal would mean a tax increase of $15.91 per household by 2025 until it reaches about $160 per year a decade later, according to the final program draft proposal to be discussed at a City Council meeting last month.
This particular approach hasn’t been tested in Minnesota, but Noecker said other cities across the country have tried it and found success. Up north in Warren, residents approved a sales tax increase expanding a daycare center in the rural town to provide families with more childcare spaces.
She argues that even if the proposal cannot serve every child in St. Paul, the program is worth trying to ease the financial burden for some.
“It’s a very strange argument to say that we shouldn’t do anything because we can’t do everything for all the children and all the families,” she said. “That’s not a standard we have for any public program. The truth is, there is no single public program that fully meets the need.”
Thousands have already voted in the November elections, three weeks before Election Day. Nate Tlougan, a father of two with another on the way, said he is one of them and supported the ballot measure even though his own family would not qualify.
He said child care will soon cost more than his mortgage.
‘I’m fine with paying it, knowing how important it is [child care] is,” he said. “Again, knowing that we can afford it – but it’s super important for those who can’t.”
For Maya Madison, she’s not sold on the idea. She is a nanny and understands the high costs of good childcare, but does not know whether a new levy is the right approach.
“My sister and I are both single and don’t have children, so with where I am and what I earn, I feel the pressure of taxes and spending,” she explained.
The full language of the voting questions can be found below:
SHOULD THE CITY RATE TAXES TO PROVIDE EARLY LEARNING GRANTS?
To create a dedicated early care and education fund for children to be administered by a city department or office that provides grants to families and providers so that early care and education are at no cost to low-income families and in a sliding scale available for, the City of Saint Paul shall be authorized to levy property taxes in the amount of $2,000,000 in the first year, and to increase the number of child care spaces and support the child care workforce, to levy property taxes in the first year to levy $2,000,000, to be increased by the same amount per family. the following year for the next nine years ($4,000,000 in property taxes assessed in year two, $6,000,000 in year three, $8,000,000 in year four and so on until $20,000,000 in property taxes is assessed in year ten)
