OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Saint Paul Housing & Redevelopment Authority Meeting - August 26, 2026: Budget Presentation and TIF Update

City Council — Wednesday, August 26, 2026
BodySt Paul, Minnesota
SessionCity Council
DateWednesday, August 26, 2026
StatusNEW · FILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:05:00

Transcript — Verbatim
5:50

Roll call, please.

5:52

Bowie?

5:52

Here.

5:53

Coleman.

5:54

Here.

5:54

Joe's here.

5:55

Kim?

5:56

Here.

5:56

Naker.

5:57

Here.

5:57

Yang.

5:58

Here.

5:58

Chair Johnson?

5:59

Here.

5:59

Seven in favor.

6:01

Or I'm sorry, seven present, zero absent.

6:04

And item number one is a SAP report, SR26-173, planning and economic development and housing and redevelopment authority budget presentation.

6:14

It's budget time.

6:16

No, the most excited points of the year, I'm sure.

6:20

Um, but I'm really excited to be able to have the PED and housing and redevelopment authority budget presentation here today.

6:27

So we have two items that are here that I'm hoping that we can have time to get to.

6:31

But welcome, Director McMahon.

6:33

And this is your first uh at the budget presentation because last year, if you remember, um, it was presented by the former director.

6:41

So looking forward to seeing um to hearing from you today.

6:44

Well, thank you very much, Chair Commissioners.

6:47

Yes, my first budget presentation.

6:49

So everyone back to school mode, right?

6:51

And first budget presentation, uh kind of all new and fresh.

6:54

So thank you very much for the opportunity to go through all of this with you.

6:57

I know it's an ongoing conversation in the coming months and the coming weeks, and so I'll you know, say up front and say again, probably throughout the presentation, but more than happy to follow up with any details and you know, working with the chair on additional information and presentations moving forward from this.

7:12

So starting here and continuing the conversation.

7:14

So I appreciate your time very much.

7:16

I actually just wanted to really quick start with a thank you.

7:19

And there's a lot of like experts and folks here for if there's any questions that I know there's a lot, but if there's any questions we wanted to make sure we're prepared to answer.

7:26

Answer as best we can today in real time for you, but also again following up.

7:31

But really, the team's work in pulling all of this information together is incredibly important.

7:38

I'm going through it, they do it.

7:40

And so just wanted to make sure I started with acknowledging and thanking the PED team for their work.

7:46

Um, the first two slides are actually just kind of a brief overview of really department mandates that we have from federal law, from state law, from city ordinances and policies.

7:55

There are a lot of things that don't always necessarily get captured in a specific budget line.

7:59

And so just kind of a good overview and reminder for you all of things that are in there.

8:04

You know, we do the comprehensive plan, and it's not every year a budget line that shows up because we update it every 10 years.

8:10

There are things like working, you know, consultation and mitigation with the state historic preservation office.

8:15

We are a certified local government.

8:17

Um, boards and commissions that we operate and run, things like that.

8:21

So those are some mandates and then programs that PED administers.

8:25

A lot of the programs do show up in budgets and line items, but there's there's a lot there, you know, owning um oversight and management of a significant amount of downtown parking ramps and HRA owned parcels throughout the city is an A budget line item, obviously, an incredibly important body of work that this group does.

8:44

Moving right into the numbers in the budget, then this slide shows sources and uses.

8:49

I know that um every department is unique and special in its own budget way, and PED is no different.

8:55

We are not a mix of city funds and HRA funds, but also have a significant number of special funds that are used to operate the department.

9:03

We'll get into more detail and kind of see that breakdown of special funds versus general funds later on.

9:08

But again, just noting that we are largely funded through special funds, which have their own restrictions, their own intended uses and guidelines.

9:16

A lot of those funds are also multi-year funds.

9:18

So what you're seeing in this presentation again is the proposed 2027 budget and use of those dollars, but it a lot of them are multi-year and carry forward in that way.

9:47

And we're proposing to do the same for 2027, which would result in a 1.2% HRA levy increase, which is a total dollar amount of 77,031 dollars.

10:03

Moving on now, you can see that general fund and special fund breakdown and looking at general fund proposed cuts.

10:10

So PED has a pooled car, and we're proposing to eliminate that for a total savings of $9,500.

10:17

We've looked into it, and our utilization of the pooled car is actually really small and significantly below industry standards.

10:23

Additionally, we're proposing to reduce the travel and training budget.

10:26

We again looked at past years travel and training.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Budget█████████████████████████████████████████████52%
Affordable Housing██████████12%
Public Policy██████████12%
Economic Development████████9%
Taxation████5%
Tax Increment Financing███4%
Emergency Rental Assistance███3%
Procedural███3%
Summary of Proceedings

Saint Paul Housing & Redevelopment Authority Meeting - August 26, 2026

The Housing & Redevelopment Authority (HRA) Board of Commissioners met on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, at 2:00 PM in Council Chambers, City Hall. The meeting featured two major agenda items: a presentation on the proposed 2027 budget for Planning and Economic Development (PED) and the HRA, and an update on Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts. The meeting adjourned at 3:00 PM.

Discussion Items

1. PED and HRA Budget Presentation (SR 26-173)

Executive Director Melanie McMahon presented the proposed 2027 budget, joined by Office of Financial Services Director Joe Harney and Budget Manager Madeline Mitchell. Key points included:

  • Levy and General Fund: A proposed 1.2% HRA levy increase amounting to $77,031. General fund cuts include eliminating the pooled car ($9,500 savings) and reducing travel/training budgets, with assurance that programs and services would not be impacted.
  • Sales Tax Revitalization (STAR) Program: PED manages competitive grant programs (neighborhood and cultural STAR) comprising about 14% of overall STAR dollars. The commercial corridors program is proposed for elimination (previously funded with one-time dollars). A $3.75 million investment in the arena complex raised questions; staff committed to providing details before September 23rd.
  • Year-Round STAR: No allocation proposed for 2027; balances were shared. Commissioners noted that unspent balances exist and historical practice splits allocations eight ways. Chair Johnson and Commissioner Noecker discussed using above-budget STAR dollars.
  • Local Affordable Housing Aid (LAHA): Proposed allocations include $1 million for citywide down payment assistance, $1 million for emergency rental assistance, and funding for small-scale development and affordable housing gap subsidies. Commissioner Noecker requested additional columns showing 2026 budgeted amounts and current fund balances.
  • Housing Trust Fund: Proposals include ADU subsidies, historic preservation surveys (St. Paul immigration context), Healthy Homes ($300,000 from Housing Trust Fund plus $200,000 ARPA), and a rental assistance hotline ($100,000 via RFP). Commissioner Bowie questioned ongoing vs. one-time funding; staff clarified that special funds are inherently one-time. Commissioner Coleman expressed concern about RFP timing causing service disruption.
  • HRA General Fund: Comprehensive plan support, loan enterprise fund transfers, business assistance fund carryover ($200,000), and parking enterprise fund capital repairs were discussed. Commissioner Noecker requested total fund balances and detailed revenue/expense data. Commissioner Yang noted the need to exhaust the business assistance fund rather than add new dollars.
  • Staffing: No net FTE change; vacancies are being filled. Commissioner Noecker requested a column showing vacancy dates.
  • Follow-Up Requests: Commissioners asked for detailed fund balances, quarter-three actuals before the budget vote, and clarity on ongoing versus one-time funding. Chair Johnson emphasized the need for commissioner buy-in before returning unused funds to the state.

2. Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Update (SR 26-172)

Debt Administrator Jenny Wolfe provided a preview of a full presentation, which will be continued at the September 2, 2026 HRA meeting. Key points:

  • Decertification: Four TIF districts will need HRA board resolutions for early decertification. Districts with obligations fully paid or expected to pay off in 2026 will decertify.
  • Pooling for Affordable Housing: Currently, $14 million is pooled from districts that can be kept open. An estimated additional $6 million may be generated from pay 2026. For pay 2027, an estimated $4.6 million (19% of total captured, or 1.33% of the city's total tax base) would be released to the tax base.
  • Project Pipeline: The housing team has identified 12 projects seeking $20 million from pooled TIF, which would produce over 1,000 rental and ownership units.
  • Next Steps: The full presentation and discussion will occur on September 2, 2026. Commissioners were invited to suggest additional information for that meeting.

Key Outcomes

  • Budget Presentation (SR 26-173): Received and filed. Extensive follow-up requests were noted; staff committed to providing additional data on fund balances, arena investment details, and quarter-three actuals before the September budget vote.
  • TIF Update (SR 26-172): Referred to the Housing & Redevelopment Authority with a due back date of September 2, 2026, for further discussion and possible action.
  • Next Meeting: Scheduled for September 2, 2026, at 2:00 PM.

Meeting Transcript

Roll call, please. Bowie? Here. Coleman. Here. Joe's here. Kim? Here. Naker. Here. Yang. Here. Chair Johnson? Here. Seven in favor. Or I'm sorry, seven present, zero absent. And item number one is a SAP report, SR26-173, planning and economic development and housing and redevelopment authority budget presentation. It's budget time. No, the most excited points of the year, I'm sure. Um, but I'm really excited to be able to have the PED and housing and redevelopment authority budget presentation here today. So we have two items that are here that I'm hoping that we can have time to get to. But welcome, Director McMahon. And this is your first uh at the budget presentation because last year, if you remember, um, it was presented by the former director. So looking forward to seeing um to hearing from you today. Well, thank you very much, Chair Commissioners. Yes, my first budget presentation. So everyone back to school mode, right? And first budget presentation, uh kind of all new and fresh. So thank you very much for the opportunity to go through all of this with you. I know it's an ongoing conversation in the coming months and the coming weeks, and so I'll you know, say up front and say again, probably throughout the presentation, but more than happy to follow up with any details and you know, working with the chair on additional information and presentations moving forward from this. So starting here and continuing the conversation. So I appreciate your time very much. I actually just wanted to really quick start with a thank you. And there's a lot of like experts and folks here for if there's any questions that I know there's a lot, but if there's any questions we wanted to make sure we're prepared to answer. Answer as best we can today in real time for you, but also again following up. But really, the team's work in pulling all of this information together is incredibly important. I'm going through it, they do it. And so just wanted to make sure I started with acknowledging and thanking the PED team for their work. Um, the first two slides are actually just kind of a brief overview of really department mandates that we have from federal law, from state law, from city ordinances and policies. There are a lot of things that don't always necessarily get captured in a specific budget line. And so just kind of a good overview and reminder for you all of things that are in there. You know, we do the comprehensive plan, and it's not every year a budget line that shows up because we update it every 10 years. There are things like working, you know, consultation and mitigation with the state historic preservation office. We are a certified local government. Um, boards and commissions that we operate and run, things like that. So those are some mandates and then programs that PED administers. A lot of the programs do show up in budgets and line items, but there's there's a lot there, you know, owning um oversight and management of a significant amount of downtown parking ramps and HRA owned parcels throughout the city is an A budget line item, obviously, an incredibly important body of work that this group does. Moving right into the numbers in the budget, then this slide shows sources and uses. I know that um every department is unique and special in its own budget way, and PED is no different. We are not a mix of city funds and HRA funds, but also have a significant number of special funds that are used to operate the department.

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