In St. Paul, Mayor Melvin Carter’s 2020 budget calls for $20 million to fix the city’s crumbling streets.

The infrastructure spending is the headline from his budget proposal, which also calls for a property tax levy increase of nearly 5 percent.

The money for the street fix comes just about a week after a report said, without $25 million a year, St. Paul’s 760 miles of city streets will be in very poor condition or fail by the year 2039.

Carter said solutions don’t only include funding, but also innovative ideas.

“We’re not the only community in our state that is grappling with deferred maintenance on our streets,” said Carter in the address. “There are so many streets in our city and our state that we have a lot to work to do and it’s going to require a significant investment to solve that challenge moving forward.”

The majority of the budget usually goes to fund the St. Paul Police Department.


While the city added new officers in the last budget, the mayor’s 2020 proposal did not ask for any new officers in 2020.