St. Paul Mayor Carter tells city staff to steer clear of child-care ballot initiative

As November’s election draws closer, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter is renewing his fight against a ballot measure that will ask voters whether the city should raise property taxes to provide child care subsidies to low-income families.

Saying he continues to have concerns about the proposal’s feasibility, fiscal impacts and legality, Carter directed city staff not to work on anything related to the child care measure on city time. The mayor’s action was a blow for City Council supporters of the plan, who have been working with a consultant to plan for the subsidy program, should it be approved by voters in November.

The ballot question will ask voters whether St. Paul should raise property taxes by $2 million a year for 10 years, compounding annually. That money would cover the costs of care for children ages 5 and younger in families earning less than 185% of the federal poverty line, which is $57,720 for a family of four.

In May, City Attorney Lyndsey Olson sent a letter to the state Attorney General’s office asking whether the city has the authority to run an early child care program funded by property taxes and whether public funds could be used to hire a consultant before the election.

The Attorney General’s Office declined to issue a formal opinion on the matter. However, its response said campaign finance laws allow public funds to be spent on a consultant to provide neutral voter education about the potential effects of a ballot measure’s passage or failure.

In a July 27 email to the council, Deputy Mayor Jaime Tincher wrote that staffers had been similarly instructed not to engage with the city’s plans for organized trash collection ahead of a 2019 referendum on the issue.

But Council Member Rebecca Noecker, a lead advocate for the ballot measure, argued the city did not deploy the same policy last fall, when St. Paul was voting on a 1% sales tax to improve streets and parks.

“It feels like there is this constant sort of undercover campaign within City Hall to try to stop this issue from being voted on by the people of St. Paul,” Noecker said. “It’s unfortunate for the families and kids that, if this should pass, are going to have to just wait that much longer for this to be ready to go.”

Carter and Noecker, along with Council Member Nelsie Yang, have been at odds over the proposal since the mayor issued a rare veto last year attempting to keep the question off the ballot. The council voted to override it.

Since then, Carter has repeatedly criticized the proposal for making false promises to voters by suggesting in the council resolution that the program could fully fund care for all families meeting income requirements. In a recent interview, he said he’s surprised no one has challenged the language in court.

“It seems very, very clear and obvious that the things that are being promised in the campaign just are not possible to deliver with the amount of resources that will be raised by it,” Carter said.

Noecker has pushed back, arguing advocates have acknowledged upfront that the program would not cover every family, especially in its fledgling years. A point system will be designed to determine how families are prioritized.

“To argue that a program is not worthy if it doesn’t completely meet the need is disingenuous at best — especially given the number of programs that this administration has passed that do not completely meet the need,” Noecker said.

There’s also disagreement over how far the dollars would go. This spring Carter directed the city’s Office of Financial Services to do an analysis, which estimated the program would serve 120 children in its first year and 1,200 in its 10th.

A recent study from early child care policy consultant MetrixIQ, commissioned by the St. Paul Children’s Collaborative, estimated the program would reach more than 2,500 by year 10, covering most preschoolers and about a third of the infants and toddlers meeting income requirements.

Carter, who will deliver his proposed 2025 budget on Tuesday, added that he thinks the program is competing with parks, libraries, police and fire for limited city resources.

“The pool is only so deep,” he said.

Noecker responded: “I think this is the most democratic and the most direct way to gauge whether or not people want to pay for a specific service. Voters get the final say.”