St. Cloud Mayor Proposes $79 million Budget For 2022

(KNSI) – St. Cloud is giving residents their first peek at its proposed budget for 2022, and the majority of the spending will be on public safety and infrastructure.

Next year’s budget is estimated at a little more than $79 million. St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis is requesting 47% of the budget ($37 million) be spent on public safety and 11% ($8.7 million)on public works.

He says both are increases in spending, but the average taxpayer won’t see a tax hike.

“This year, we’re capturing the growth, and we’re able to do more in public safety and infrastructure. And we’re able to do that without raising taxes. We’re not raising fees either in this budget.”

If your city property taxes increase, it’s likely due to your property value going up. The budget includes hiring four new police officers, new squad cars, and construction equipment for public works.

Kleis says he plans to put the new public works equipment to good use.

“We are putting in a record amount of road resurfacing in fact, this going back at least 20 years, we have not seen this much road resurfacing, and we’re next year we’re putting in 22 miles of road resurfacing.”

The St. Cloud City Council will have an opportunity to weigh in on the budget. The council will set the preliminary property tax levy in September, meaning taxes couldn’t be raised higher than that number.

St. Cloud will hold a public hearing on the budget in September and again in December. The 2022 budget will be finalized and approved in December.

To see the 2022 proposed budget for St. Cloud, click here.