St. Cloud City Council Reviews Proposed $89.8 Million Budget for 2025; Public Safety Receives Major Funding Boost

(KNSI) – The St. Cloud City Council got its first look at a proposed $89.8 million operating budget for 2025 Monday night.

It calls for a 2.31% increase in spending, or $2 million more than in 2024. This amounts to $39.5 million from property taxes. The tax rate will remain flat, meaning the city is capturing the growth, and property taxes should only increase if property values do. Local tax dollars cover about 44% of the budget. The rest comes from state and federal programs.

St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis is responsible for making spending suggestions to the council and takes his duties seriously. “It’s, in my opinion, the most important thing I do. The charter gives the sole responsibility of the mayor to present a budget to the city. And you know, it’s never easy. I say this all the time. It’s not my money.”

Kleis told KNSI News he’s always kept in mind that the city is entrusted with the public’s dollars and uses that mantra when putting the city’s spending package together. “The very first full budget that I put together, if you adjust for inflation, this is spending $6 million less than that budget almost 20 years ago. And at the same time we’ve put money into public safety. There’s never been a year that we haven’t put additional resources into public safety.”

Public safety will see the largest jump in funding, with a 4.25% increase. Public safety takes up 52% of the city’s annual funding. The money will be used to cover officers’ pay and replace equipment.

The city council, administrators and the mayor will meet on August 14th to discuss the budget. A public hearing on the matter will be held at the September 9th city council meeting. See the budget breakdown here.

Also at the meeting, an ordinance was passed for no more No Mow May. The policy was put in place as a means of supporting local bees and other pollinators.

Councilwoman Carol Lewis originally supported the initiative but grew to view the policy differently after driving around town. “And I started to notice that lawns were getting longer. Which is fine, because that’s what we wanted, but they didn’t go down in June. They didn’t go down in July. And so the city has had to go out and get those lawns mowed, which is unfortunate. I mean, because people took advantage of what I thought would be a good program.”

City rules require property owners to trim their yards when the grass is ten inches or higher. Lewis was surprised at how many people weren’t following the rules. “I just don’t think that people thought through how this was all going to happen, how this was all going to work out and that people were going to take advantage of a good thing.”

The exception to the city yard and weed ordinance was supposed to last two years but was ended early due to the number of non-compliant yards.

Recent data from the University of Minnesota suggests that mowing less would be more beneficial than not mowing for an entire month.

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