St. Paul voters on Tuesday are set to cast ballots on two very different issues: a child care subsidy for low-income families paid for through property taxes and a proposal to move city elections to even years.
St. Paul voters to decide child care subsidy, even-year elections in ballot questions
Property taxes would increase to offset child care costs for low-income families. But opponents say too few would be helped and the cost is too high.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
November 5, 2024 at 11:05AM
Proponents of the plans say each are needed to ensure more St. Paulites can fully participate in civic life. They argue the even-year election proposal would boost voter turnout and the child care subsidy would allow more low-income families to fully join the workforce or improve their education.
Election year question
Peter Butler has promoted the election year change for years, saying the city’s odd-year voting has resulted in only about a third of St. Paul’s eligible voters going to the polls. More than 80% have regularly turned out in presidential years.
“I certainly think that higher turnout is the gold standard for elections,” Butler said recently.
But City Council President Mitra Jalali, who gathered with a group of local and state leaders opposed to the plan Friday, said city issues would be lost in the noise of national and statewide races. And City Council candidates, who run under the city’s ranked-choice voting system, would be crowded off a packed ballot, she said.
Child care question
Jalali’s group, which included state Reps. Maria Isa Perez-Vega and Liz Lee, both St. Paul DFLers, urged a no vote as well on the child care proposal. Mayor Melvin Carter also recently urged a “no” vote. Carter has also said the child care proposal would help only a few hundred families a year.
“Minnesotans and St. Paul residents deserve real solutions to the child care crisis that build on the historic work underway at the Legislature — not diversion of precious public funds to private companies in a lottery system with no accountability,” Perez-Vega said.
But Council Member Rebecca Noecker, one of several city council members backing the child care proposal, said the aid could make a real difference for some of St. Paul’s neediest families.
“We fill the gaps,” Noecker said of money meant to augment state and federal aid. “The goal here is to be part of the solution, not the only answer.”
Incumbents in two races face challengers who drew headlines. One tossed a tarantula at a tenant and another’s background includes mixed martial arts and a criminal record.
