Rebecca Noecker Discusses St. Paul Budget Shortfall on Morning Edition with Cathy Wurzer
Rebecca Noecker serves as the President of the St. Paul City Council and is running for Ramsey County Commissioner in District 5.
On June 30, 2026, Rebecca Noecker joined MPR’s Cathy Wurzer on Morning Edition to discuss St. Paul’s $26 million budget shortfall. Here is their conversation.
Cathy Wurzer: Down a $26 million budget gap for next year, Mayor Kaohly Her is asking city departments to take a close look at how sustainable their programs are, given the tight financial picture. City Council President, Rebecca Noecker, joins us right now to talk about the financial outlook for the capital city. Thanks for taking the time.
Rebecca Noecker: Good morning. Thanks for having me, Cathy.
Cathy Wurzer: 26 million, pretty big budget shortfall. We haven't seen that in years. What happened to get to this point?
Rebecca Noecker: Well, this is, first of all, a really important conversation, and I'm so glad that we're having it. You know, this is a serious problem, and it's one that is even more urgent this year when we have seen our community literally be attacked by our own federal government. We need to take the concerns that we're hearing about affordability seriously, and that starts with our own lessons. This isn't a new problem. This is something that we have been dealing with for years. It's a systemic issue. And it's something that we, as a city, have a responsibility to take extremely seriously, and we also know that we can't tackle it alone.
Cathy Wurzer: Do you think Mayor Her knew what she was walking into when she took office?
Rebecca Noecker: Again, this is a big budget shortfall. I think the mayor came in really clear eyed about the issues that were facing, and that's why she was really clear during her campaign, and this is something that I 100% support, that the city really needs to focus on the basics. We need to take care of the things that no one else can do first. So that's public safety, that's street maintenance, that's filling those potholes. That's trimming our trees, that's our parks and libraries. And then we need to look to our partners. We need to have better collaboration, especially with the County, with the State. to make sure that our other partners are pulling their weight, as well, so it doesn't always fall on St. Paul taxpayers alone.
Cathy Wurzer: Fred Melo, the Pioneer Press, wrote that the city's facing a pandemic level, financial challenge, but this time, there's no federal bailout. So, what revenue levers can be pulled to bring in more money?
Rebecca Noecker: There are a number of things that we need to look at. First of all, I think it's important. We always talk about how a budget is reflecting of our values. So I think there are certain things we have to hold sacred, and those are these services that people depend on every day. So our libraries, our parks, our police and fire department. Again, our street maintenance, those are things that we absolutely need to preserve.
We need to get more local government aid from the State. If the State of Minnesota's local government aid had kept pace with inflation since the early 2000s, we would be bringing in 70 million more dollars a year. So that would completely erase the budget gap that we're talking about this year and the budget gaps that we've seen in my last 10 years on the city council. I also think we need to look at a payment in lieu of taxes program, a way of asking those tax exempt organizations in the city to pay their fair share as well. And that's something we've talked about for a long time, but again, I think this year, we need to look at it with particular urgency. And then, you know, there is raising taxes, and that's something that I think should be an absolute last resort after we've looked at everything else we can possibly do to be more efficient, but without cutting the services that people depend on.
Cathy Wurzer: Curious about your idea, and it has been floated before to have say the colleges and universities in St. Paul ante up and step forward with property taxes. Any sense as to whether they would do that? Would there be significant pushback?
Rebecca Noecker: You know, there was a study done by the Citizens League in 2017, and there was a lot of interest from the nonprofit sector at the time. Both the colleges and universities, also larger hospitals, larger non profits. And I think there is interest. I mean, I think in St. Paul, one of our superpowers is our social capital, is our sense of being connected to one another and being responsible for one another. And one of the things that excites me most about a PILT program is that it really resonates with those values. It says to all of us in our community, that we all have a share in the success of our community. And I think if that's approached the right way in a spirit of partnership, and also asking what the city can do for our nonprofit community, because they contribute a ton. And I think it's something worth exploring.