Minneapolis City Council overrides Frey’s historic veto of 2025 budget

First, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey made history Wednesday when he vetoed the City Council’s budget for what is believed to be the first time in Minneapolis. Then, the council made history Thursday by overriding his veto.

Frey vetoed the $1.9 billion budget passed by the City Council late Tuesday night, although he signed off on the property tax levy set by the council, which is 6.8% higher than the 2024 levy, but lower than the 8.1% increase Frey proposed in August. Last week, he suggested the council reduce it to 6.4%.

The council voted 9-4 to override the veto. Nine votes were needed for the override to succeed.

Frey called the council budget “reckless and irresponsible” because it adds $6.53 million in new spending, much of it taken from cash reserves and transfers from the Downtown Assets Fund. He said the money was used to fund new, unvetted pet projects that council members directed to certain wards. Frey said the council cut or earmarked $15.9 million from city departments for new or altered programs, cut $1.8 million from his proposed budget for the Minneapolis Police Department, including money for cell phones and the mounted patrol.

Late Tuesday night, the council approved amendments directing funding to specific nonprofits and projects, including the Latino Center for Community Engagement, Mercado Central economic development project, One Southside clinic project and Mni Sota Fund Indigenous Wealth Building Center.

Frey was also critical of the council’s decision to steer money toward public safety initiatives in the neighborhoods of Hiawatha, Whittier, Longfellow and Midtown Phillips, saying the city should stick to a comprehensive public safety system.

“We can’t have 13 cities with 13 different budgets,” he said after the council overrode his veto.

He accused the council of “gutting” funding for security contracts to prevent homeless encampments from setting up or reforming after being cleared. He said some council members privately ask him to clear encampments in their wards but then voted to cut the funding.

Council Member Robin Wonsley noted the council budgeted $1.8 million to cover housing and wraparound services for 50 unsheltered families and 50 individuals; $1.6 million to help fund Avivo Village, an indoor grouping of “tiny houses” for homeless people in the North Loop; and $830,500 in a pilot program expanding the Stable Homes Stable Schools program for early childhood and middle school homelessness prevention.

Wonsley said the mayor is “completely out of touch” and that the council’s vote “doesn’t stop the mayor from his many ruthless actions.”

“Encampment clearings don’t reduce homelessness; they just move people from one block to another,” she said.

Council Member Linea Palmisano, who supported Frey’s veto, suggested her colleagues were suddenly interested in austerity because it’s “politically expedient.”

“All we have done here is kick a budget crisis down the road, maybe to next year, maybe to another council, but eventually, these bills come due, and that’s on us,” she said. “I’m also baffled by some sudden realization of this emergency to reduce the levy. ... Why all of a sudden in December was it of the utmost importance to reduce the levy?”

Palmisano said the only “net reduction” the council made was at the expense of city employees, when it voted against 4% cost-of-living raises to 161 of the city’s highest-paid workers, saving the city about $1.1 million.

Frey suggested the denial of the raises to his directors and others with six-figure salaries was retaliation, and said it shows “complete disrespect.”

Council Member Katie Cashman said she went to every neighborhood in her ward to talk to people about budget priorities.

“We are on the ground talking to our constituents day after day. We know what they need. That’s why we amended the budget to make sure that their needs were met,” she said.

Council Member Jeremiah Ellison said both sides need to stop fear-mongering.

“Ever since I’ve been in office, we’ve been told horror stories about what this budget is going to be for the next budget, and so on and so forth. They’ve never come to fruition.”

Both the council and mayor need to “mitigate some of the fighting” and make sure city staff doesn’t get “caught in the crossfire,” Ellison said.

“I think that more and more, we’re seeing a little bit of a deepening partisanship, and I don’t think that council is driving that culture change,” he said.

Ellison, who is the second-longest-serving member of the council and is not seeking re-election next year, urged both sides to start talking to each other.

“I think it would behoove the mayor to give some phone calls over the holidays. I think it will behoove us to give the mayor and some of his staff some phone calls over the holidays to figure out how we’re going to mitigate this — if there’s a genuine desire to mitigate this next year. I’m not always convinced that there is a genuine desire. I think some folks have calculated that the mess is politically good for them, but if that’s not true. Let’s work on that.”

Council President Elliott Payne thanked Ellison, and said, “I’m definitely welcoming the phone calls that I’ll be making over this break to really say it’s a new year.”

Voting to override Frey’s veto were Council Members Wonsley, Ellison, Jamal Osman, Cashman, Jason Chavez, Emily Koski and Aurin Chowdhury, as well as Payne and Council Vice President Aisha Chughtai.

Voting to sustain the veto were Council Members Michael Rainville, LaTrisha Vetaw, Andrea Jenkins and Palmisano.

That’s a one-vote difference from the original 10-3 vote Tuesday to approve the budget; Jenkins voted in favor of the budget but against Frey’s override.