Speaker numbers apply only to this recording. Names come from transcript evidence. “Possibly” marks uncertain attribution.
Chair Aisha Chugtai called the meeting to order, establishing a quorum of seven members. The scheduled Youth Coordinating Board presentation was postponed, and materials were filed for review. The committee heard two presentations on the Mayor's recommended 2027 budgets: the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board and the Convention Center and Downtown Assets Fund.
Deputy Superintendent Jennifer Ringold and Finance Director Julie Weisman presented the Park Board's budget. The initial request for a 12% increase was scaled back to 5.6% for the 2027 General Fund, with a projected 4.8% increase for 2028. The General Fund relies 81.5% on property taxes. Councilmembers discussed the Board's four strategic priorities—revenue generation, youth, natural areas, and climate—with a strong focus on non-property tax revenue ideas including corporate sponsorships, food trucks, beer gardens, and concessions. Vice Chair Schaefer noted a new sliding-scale youth programming model has eliminated a structural deficit and is being expanded to senior programming. Councilmember Vita offered suggestions for activating North Commons and Upper Harbor Terminal. Councilmember Palmasano expressed frustration that the Park Board has not taken responsibility for maintaining Grass Lake, urging a resolution. Councilmember Stevenson inquired about equity metrics in capital planning and coordination with Minneapolis Public Schools. Councilmember Chavez questioned a prior decision regarding Met Council funding for the Mall parkway project. President Olsen of the Park Board noted that state legislation changes are needed for expanded alcohol sales in parks and that ideas for activation are being actively pursued.
General Manager Jeff Johnson presented the Downtown Assets Fund budget, noting a 4% expense increase driven by $1.1 million in union contracts and a $400,000 street assessment, partially offset by a $75,000 reduction in property insurance. Revenues from sales, lodging, and restaurant taxes are stagnating as hotel occupancy lags 10% below historical averages. The budget for Peavey (PV) Plaza maintenance increased significantly from $50,000 to $400,000 to address aging infrastructure. The Convention Center is bidding for the Big Ten Women's Volleyball tournament. Councilmember Stevenson criticized the area around the Convention Center as an unwelcoming 'island' and urged greater connectivity to downtown. Councilmember Rainville praised the presentation's analysis of tax trends. Councilmember Schaefer questioned the long-term sustainability of the Downtown Assets Fund given revenue stagnation. Councilmember Vita proposed pop-up concepts featuring local award-winning chefs to attract convention business. Councilmember Palmasano asked about the PV Plaza maintenance increase and the upcoming food vendor RFP.
Both presentations were filed without formal votes, serving as informational sessions for the budget process. The Youth Coordinating Board presentation materials were filed for review. The committee will reconvene on Monday, October 26, 2026 at 10:00 AM to receive presentations from Performance Management and Innovation and Public Works.
Because you were going for that. That's not true. How come I might. Good morning. My name is Aisha Chugtai, and I'm the chair of the budget committee. I'm going to call to order our adjourn meeting for Friday, October 23rd, 2026. Before we begin the meeting, I want to offer a friendly reminder to all members, staff, and the public that these meetings are broadcast live to enable greater public participation. These broadcasts include real-time captioning as a further method to increase the accessibility of our proceedings to the community. Therefore, all speakers need to be mindful of the rate of their speech so that our captioners can fully capture and transcribe all comments for the broadcast. We ask all speakers to moderate the speed and clarity of their comments. At this time, I'll ask the clerk to call the role so we can verify the presence of the quorum. Councilmember Payne. Present. Present. Lauren is absent. Osman is absent. Stevenson is absent. Chavez. Whiting is absent. Chowry is absent. Palmasano present. Vice Chair Schaefer present. And Chair Chengtai present. That is seven members present. Let the record reflect that we have a quorum. I'll also remind my colleagues that we are using speaker management today, so please make sure to sign in. Today we have two presentations related to the Mayor's recommended budget from the Parks and Recreation Board and the Convention Center in Downtown Assets. You will see on the published agenda that we were also supposed to receive a presentation related to the youth coordinating board, and I emailed council members this morning notifying you of a change to this due to some unexpected circumstances. So for this, for this youth coordinating board presentation, I will ask the clerk to file that presentation and encourage colleagues to review the youth coordinating board slide decks and send any questions that you have in writing to me, the vice chair, and uh the clerk's office to make sure that we get those captured. Uh any questions about that. Great. Thank you. So our first presentation today is from the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board. For this, I will invite Deputy Superintendent Jennifer Ringold and Finance Director Julie Weisman to join us to present. Welcome. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council members. We are pleased to be here with you today. And I'm going to start us off. Superintendent Bangora does send his regrets. He is battling a really horrible cough, and looks forward to the next time he gets to be with all of you. So our budget process begins very early in the year. In February of the year, we began both our budget process and our strategic direction work with our board every um start of a four-year term. We do strategic directions to understand collectively where our board wants to take the organization over that next four-year term. When we did that work initially and also in talking with uh the staff across our organization, we realized that there were several needs and priorities within the organization that folks would like us to try to fill, whether that be wages, stump grinding, uh tree planting, wood disposal, labor relations staffing, but a whole host of items. When we did the total of that, that would have been about a 12% increase for the Minneapolis Park Board if we had requested all of that.