BACKGROUND
Since 2003, the City of St. Paul has been taxing street maintenance separately to disguise and minimize reported property tax increases. When the old Right of Way system was successfully challenged in the Minnesota Supreme Court in 2016, the city rebranded it as the Street Maintenance Service Program.
These policies have created hugely uneven burdens. Some residents are saddled with thousands of dollars in street maintenance fees while their neighbors, who also use these arterial streets, pay little or nothing.
There are fair and legal ways for the City to do this. Instead, the city is sidestepping Minnesota law, and with it the important protections the law provides for taxpayers.
IN FIGURES
Why We're Fighting.
Taxes Should be Fair
The cost of maintaining our street network should be shared by everyone.
The City needs to stop penalizing homeowners who live on major thoroughfares while giving everyone else a free ride.
Taxes Must be Legal
St. Paul needs to start complying with Minnesota law.
The Minnesota Supreme Court threw out the same system in 2016. Rebranding an illegal system doesn’t make it legal.
Transparency Matters
St. Paul needs to be held accountable.
Cities are supposed to listen to their residents. That includes meaningful public consultation, hearings, and adequate notice before work begins.
Get in touch.
If you've received an 'Invoice' or Assessment for Street Maintenance work from St. Paul, we want to hear from you.
LATEST NEWS
Yesterday, the city held a closed door meeting “to discuss pending litigation in First Baptist Church of St. Paul, et al v. City of Saint Paul and Christina Anderson, et al v. City of Saint Paul”. No further details were shared, but it’s likely that the city attorney has (finally) looked at the adverse decision …
City holds closed-door meeting to consider current appeals Read More »
The City Council has laid over votes on Franklin, Prior, Third and Western for a further month to September 25th. While the council did not share their reasoning for the layover, the most likely reason is to allow them to obtain a legal opinion from the city attorney, as we and Mr. Hoeschler urged at …
The City Council has delayed a vote on the revised assessments for Franklin Ave., Prior Ave., Third Ave., and Western Ave by a week to August 28th. Simon Taghioff from Fair Streets St. Paul and our attorney Jack Hoeschler both spoke at the public hearing (video). Public Hearing: Mill & Overlay Unfair and Illegal Referencing …
Council delays vote on Franklin, Prior, Third and Western assessments Read More »
Mayor Carter launched his proposed 2020 budget for St. Paul yesterday, and finding a sustainable way to fund our streets was a central theme. Referencing last week’s report from the city’s public works department, Mayor Carter accepted that “keeping street spending at the current rate would render more than half our roads undrivable in just …
Carter announces 2020 budget – street funding takes center stage Read More »
The latest edition of The Villager leads with two issues that underscore St. Paul residents’ current frustrations with their elected representatives – mill & overlay, and organized trash collection, both of which are now the subject of lawsuits against St. Paul. The mill & overlay article covers the city’s decision on June 19th to reduce …
The Villager: St. Paul reduces street work bills Read More »
Today we filed our joint appeal against the 2018 Street Maintenance Program charges with the Ramsey County District Court, following official notice to the City Clerk on July 9th. 26 neighbors named on the appeal Although we had just 20 days following the City’s approval of our revised assessments to organize and file our appeal, …
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