A political impasse between the Democratic governor’s office and Republican legislative leaders is hitting St. Paul in the wallet.

Without new state aid or a sizable increase in property taxes, the city of St. Paul would have to shutter a parks and rec center, lay off nine police officers and eliminate five police positions in the works, reduce library branch hours and make additional cuts across the board, according to the mayor’s office.

Those departments benefit directly from state funding. The 2017 budget proposal that Mayor Chris Coleman unveiled a few weeks ago relies on a $3 million boost in local government aid from the state, money that now remains in doubt.

The funding is tied up in legislation that has yet to be signed into law. Without a special legislative session to effectively unlock it, St. Paul is left contemplating three undesirable options, Coleman said.

Scenarios include raising the 2017 property tax levy by 7 percent, instead of 4 percent as planned; eliminating all new programs and trimming state-supported departments; or some combination of the two.

City Finance Director Todd Hurley on Wednesday morning presented city council members with a letter from the mayor outlining the potential impact of the loss of the planned state aid boost. Without the additional $3 million, St. Paul will get nearly $62.6 million in state aid in 2017 — that is an increase from the $62.3 million in 2016.

“The options we face include increasing the proposed levy, decreasing critical public services, or a combination of the two,” Coleman said in the letter.

Council members were not pleased.

“This is unacceptable,” said Dai Thao. He noted that the cuts to services fall first on new programs, including racial-equity efforts to close the city’s economic disparities.

“This is bad news,” said Chris Tolbert, who pointed out that the state enjoys a sizable budget surplus. “Obviously, we were all hoping for a special session to happen. … Ironically, the state already has all the money sitting there in the bank.”

Coleman’s letter also raises the possibility of cutting seven firefighters.

Mike Smith, president of the union representing rank-and-file firefighters, said he knows the mayor has a job to do with balancing the budget.

“Firefighters also have to do their jobs every day, whether the $3 million of LGA is given or not,” said Smith of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local 21. “I ask the governor and legislators to do their job and sign the bill. Have your special session, put your differences aside and do what’s right.”

Gov. Mark Dayton said in a statement to the Pioneer Press that he, too, would like a signed tax bill.

“Since releasing my supplemental budget six months ago, I have called on the legislature to pass a meaningful increase in Local Government Aid as part of any tax bill, to provide relief to Minnesota communities across our state. Unfortunately, because the legislature waited until the last minute to complete their work, that tax bill contained a $101 million error. For that reason, I was unable to sign it,” he said. Dayton said House Republicans’ refusal to agree on funding for transportation, transit and other issues were “principal reason there will be no special session this year.”

He said he plans to ask the Legislature to approve an increase in local aid to cities early next year.

A 7 PERCENT LEVY INCREASE?

Earlier this month, Coleman proposed a 4 percent property tax levy increase for 2017 — equivalent to about $22 in new taxes on a median-value home, before some $60 in new fees. To maintain services at the levels outlined in his Aug. 9 budget address, the levy increase would have to go up to 7 percent, Coleman’s letter said.

Critics accused the mayor’s office of playing politics in order to shame Republican leaders who have blocked funding for the extension of the Green Line light-rail service to the southwest metro. Also included in an unsigned tax bill is property tax relief for a planned Major League Soccer stadium in St. Paul’s Midway.

On social media, skeptics treated the mayor’s contemplated cuts as an example of “Washington Monument syndrome,” a political strategy coined after a National Park Service director closed the Washington Monument and the Grand Canyon for two days a week in 1969. The effort to raise public awareness of federal budget cuts angered and alarmed taxpayers, who successfully demanded that parks funding be bolstered.

St. Paul, which is home to many non-taxed properties such as colleges, museums and government buildings, relies more heavily on state aid than most other municipalities in the state.

House tax committee chair Greg Davids, a Republican from Preston, believes Dayton should simply call a special session so lawmakers can approve the tax bill and cities can get their extra cash.

Davids does not fault St. Paul for banking on the state aid increase. Since the tax bill was approved with large majorities in the House and Senate and was vetoed because of a drafting error, it was only logical for cities to expect the extra cash would come, he said.

“Mayor Coleman, my good friend, call the governor,” he said. “He can call us back and get ‘er done.”

SPECIAL SESSION HELD UP

In the tax measure that died, cities and counties would have gotten about a 4 percent increase in annual state aid. Some cities had already drafted budgets relying on that extra cash.

“What’s happening in St. Paul I don’t think is unique by any means,” said League of Minnesota Cities lobbyist Gary Carlson.

Two weeks ago, as city officials anxiously awaited the final fate of the tax measure, Carlson advised cities to assume the extra state aid would not come.

Hurley, the St. Paul finance director, told the council it’s been only four days since the governor announced he had abandoned efforts to call a special session.

Hurley said city department leaders will present more details in their individual budget discussions with the council over coming months, and the city will continue to press for a special legislative session.

The tax-cut bill passed by the Legislature earlier this year included a $20 million increase in local government aid to Minnesota cities — from $519.4 million to $539.4 million, according to the League of Minnesota Cities.

“There were many years in which the aid was reduced,” said Patricia Nauman, executive director of Metro Cities, which represents cities before the Legislature. “There have been increases now, but aid is below levels it was several years ago.”

The governor has promised to sign property tax relief for the Midway soccer stadium into law in early 2017, but playing catch-up on state aid with a new Legislature is more politically complicated.

David Montgomery, Rachel E. Stassen-Berger and Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this report.