St. Paul will go without the rockets’ red glare on Independence Day this year.

Mayor Melvin Carter announced Wednesday that the city won’t hold a Fourth of July fireworks event.

The cancellation may foreshadow of what could be a difficult budget season. Carter’s announcement, posted to Facebook on Wednesday morning, cited concerns about the city’s budget climate.

“As I’ve considered the budgetary priorities we manage across our city in the first year of my administration, I’ve decided I can’t in good conscience support spending tax dollars on a fireworks display in St. Paul this year,” the mayor wrote.

Carter delivered additional remarks at City Hall shortly before noon Wednesday, where he said costs associated with a fireworks display could exceed $100,000 after insurance and public safety expenses.

“We know we’re the land of the free and the home of the brave,” the mayor said, noting that neighborhood spending items would take priority. “Our budget is a values document.”

RELATED: Here’s where to see fireworks and parades on the Fourth

NO MAJOR DONORS — OR LOWERTOWN VISITORS

The fireworks had for years been associated with the annual Taste of Minnesota festival, which was privately run and drew private corporate sponsors.

“We don’t have access to any of those resources this year, which is why we made the decision that we did,” said Carter, in response to a reporter’s question about potential corporate donations. He did not rule out the possibility of a major donor stepping forward.

Carter noted that the city wasn’t canceling a plan already in place.

“We did not start or create a (Fourth of July) plan,” he said. “It’s something that my staff have looked really closely at. The collective cost … would be about $100,000.”

Downtown residents and business owners expressed disappointment, though others said they were not entirely surprised.

On Facebook, some residents said the mayor made the right decision, and others thanked him on behalf of their fireworks-phobic cat or dog. Nevertheless, the impact on Lowertown bars and restaurants could be sizable.

Carol March, president of Madison Restaurant Group, said visitors usually pack her St. Paul restaurants during the fireworks displays.

OxCart Ale House’s rooftop patio is typically so full that the restaurant has had to implement a minimal cover charge to limit crowds. The main level is usually shoulder to shoulder as well, March said.

“I think it’s very disappointing that the citizens of St. Paul will not be able to celebrate the Fourth of July in the city like they have every year,” March said.

She said she’ll close her restaurants, including Gray Duck Tavern, Handsome Hog, Public Kitchen and Bar, and OxCart Ale House “because there will be no one down here. I’ll let my employees have the night off so they can drive out to the suburbs and watch fireworks elsewhere.”

END OF THE TASTE, BEGINNING OF CHS FIELD

Taste of Minnesota, which was founded in 1983 by former St. Paul City Council Member Ron Maddox and Dick Broeker, started on the state Capitol Mall and relocated to Harriet Island in 2003 before being sold to new owners in 2009. The food and music festival, which once drew up to 450,000 people over a five-day run that culminated on July 4, declared bankruptcy a year later, when Ron Maddox died.

A revival in 2014 was short-lived after flooding on Harriet Island forced a last-minute relocation to Waconia.

With the Taste out of the picture, city officials had worked with the St. Paul Saints baseball team on smaller displays from CHS Field, the city-owned ballpark in Lowertown.

The displays drew mixed reviews.

“Once again, the city of St. Paul’s July 4 celebration was pathetic,” wrote Bill Tschida, in a Pioneer Press letter to the editor last July. “The city ‘partnered’ with the St. Paul Saints to provide fireworks so low they could not be viewed from anywhere other than inside CHS Field, where attendees were prohibited from having food or drink not purchased on-site. … It’s sad enough for a city the size of St. Paul to have such a lame, commercialized Independence Day display. But for a capital city, it’s shameful.”

Mayoral spokeswoman Liz Xiong said the city had not yet spent money this year on the fireworks display.

Last year’s CHS Field fireworks show was paid for by the city, as was the display the year before that. Xiong said that in 2014, the city spent $45,000 for a fireworks display on the state Capitol grounds, including insurance costs but not including additional costs associated with police and fire safety.

“Over the past three years, the city partnered with CHS Field to hold fireworks on the Fourth, but given the venue’s location and capacity, this was always intended as a short-term solution,” Xiong said. “As we considered all these factors this year, including the costs for fireworks, insurance and city department costs including fire, police and public works, the mayor could not in good conscience support spending upwards of $100,000 from the city’s budget.”

Tom Whaley, an executive vice president with the Saints, said he learned of the cancellation from a reporter’s call Wednesday morning.

Whaley said the Saints will play in Fargo, N.D., on July 4.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that we wouldn’t be in town,” he said. “The team was out of town last year. It was the city’s show, and they just needed a venue to host it.”

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In his Facebook post, Carter encouraged residents to visit the website of the tourism and convention bureau, Visit St. Paul, for a list of Independence Day-related events happening in and around the capital city.

Later this summer, Carter’s administration plans to host a series of budget-focused outreach events in St. Paul neighborhoods.

He’ll unveil his proposed budget in August, after which the city council will have four months to make adjustments.

Jessica Fleming contributed to this report.