City of St. Paul cannot implement child care subsidy program if voters approve it, mayor says
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, underscoring a clash between him and members of the city council that's been brewing over the last year.
The new special tax levy would bring in $2 million in the first year and scale up to $20 million by the tenth year of implementation for a total investment of $110 million over a decade.
Supporters believe it's a step in the right direction to find solutions to a persistent problem facing young families. Detractors, like Carter, believe the plan over promises but will under-deliver.
The funding would support a "last dollar" early childhood learning program that would plug the gap left after accounting for any state or federal child care aid, but would only support roughly 150 families in the first year, according to a projection put together by a consultant on the program. By its last year, more than 4,000 kids would benefit from the program annually.
In a letter to the City Council late last week, Carter underscored his concerns and argued the ballot measure's language is misleading because it suggests all low-income children will benefit when 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 compel the administration to implement the program — or administer it themselves.
"My administration must respectfully decline to propose, plan, staff, and/or implement programming pursuant to the outcome of this referendum," he wrote.
In an interview with WCCO, he again reiterated that he does not believe the city can act 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 is possible to keep."
Council member Rebecca Noecker, one of the proposal's sponsors, dismissed Carter's claims that the language is misleading, saying she regularly engages with voters on the topic and they understand what it's intended to do.
"There's really disconnect there when the mayor says voters don't understand what this is about and saying he won't follow the will of the voters," she told WCCO.
She said the implementation plan recently approved by the council earmarks some of the levy's revenues to support new staff to administer the program, should voters approve it.
For the median home priced at $275,300, the proposal would mean a tax increase of $15.91 per household for 2025 until it reaches about $160 annually ten years later, according to the final program design proposal that will be discussed during a City Council meeting last month.
This specific approach has not 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 to expand a child care center in the rural town to offer families more daycare spots.
She argues that even if the proposal cannot serve every child in St. Paul, the program is worth trying to help ease the financial burden for some.
"It's a very strange argument to make, that because we can't do everything for all kids and all families, we shouldn't do anything," she said. "That is not a standard we apply to any public program. The truth is there is no public program that fully meets the need."
Thousands have already voted in this November's election, three weeks before Election Day. Nate Tlougan, a father of two with one more on the way, said he is one of them and he supported the ballot measure, even though his own family would not qualify.
He said soon child care will cost more than his mortgage.
"I'm cool with paying it knowing how important [child care] is," he said. "Again, knowing we can afford it — but it's super important for those that can't."
For Maya Madison, she isn't sold on the idea. She is a nanny and understands the high cost of good child care, but doesn't know if a new levy is the right approach.
"My sister and I are both single and don't have kids, so with where I am and what I make, I feel the squeeze of taxes and expenses," she explained.
The full ballot question language is below:
SHOULD THE CITY LEVY TAXES TO PROVIDE EARLY LEARNING SUBSIDIES?
In order to create a dedicated fund for children's early care and education to be administered by a City department or office that provides subsidies to families and providers so that early care and education is no cost to low-income families and available on a sliding scale to other families, and so as to increase the number of child care slots and support the child care workforce, shall the City of Saint Paul be authorized to levy property taxes in the amount of $2,000,000 in the first year, to increase by the same amount each year following for the next nine years ($4,000,000 of property taxes levied in year two, $6,000,000 in year three, $8,000,000 in year four and so on until $20,000,000 of property taxes are levied in year ten)