Minneapolis council abolishes car allowance

Minneapolis City Council members unanimously abolished their car allowance privileges without a peep Friday, a year after a similar proposal provoked debate and lost by one vote.

The change means that council members will need to keep track of their mileage, as other city workers do, to be reimbursed for car expenses.

The council's sudden conversion to abolishing the $400 monthly allowance reflected the realities of the city's increasingly tight budget, and its anticipation of constituents showing up at a Monday meeting to protest a pending property tax increase.

It also reflects the dwindling number of council members collecting the allowance. Eight of them claimed $26,093 in 2008, before the Star Tribune highlighted the allowances during the 2009 election. Only four members claimed $8,400 so far this year.

The council's biggest users of the allowance this year have been Council President Barbara Johnson at $3,300 and Lisa Goodman, whose ward contains City Hall, at $3,200. They're the only ones who consistently collected the full monthly allowance this year.

Cam Gordon claimed $1,600 for four months, and Don Samuels claimed a $300 partial allowance one month.

Last year the council defeated, 7-6, a proposal to abolish the allowance, which a lame-duck council created in 2005, and an incoming council then doubled to $400 two months later.

The proposal to require mileage claims came from rookie Council Member Meg Tuthill, who sometimes rides the bus to City Hall. She said she found it no hardship to keep track of business-related mileage when she owned a small business. Last year, some on the council argued that keeping track of their mileage was a poor use of their time.

Mileage reimbursement isn't taxed, unlike the car allowance.

Tuthill is an often-blunt budget hawk for whom getting rid of the allowance has been a priority since she was elected last year. "It wasn't such a hard sell," she said. "We've asked everyone else to button up, and we need to do it, too."

She said people forget that council members also pay property taxes. Last month, she and her husband got the notice of proposed taxes for their home in the Wedge neighborhood. It showed a $1,000 jump for 2011, although the council is likely to adopt a lower tax increase on Monday.

Council members are likely to draw less in mileage than they got in allowances. Elizabeth Glidden has claimed mileage of $344 so far this year. Betsy Hodges claimed a total of $415 in mileage for city business. Those who have collected no car expenses this year are Tuthill, Kevin Reich, Diane Hofstede, Robert Lilligren, Gary Schiff, John Quincy and Sandra Colvin Roy.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438