The City Council overturned Mayor Jacob Frey's veto of the $1.88 billion 2025 City budget at their final meeting of the year Tuesday.

The vote was 9-4 in favor of overturning the veto, with Councilmembers Andrea Jenkins (Ward 8), Linea Palmisano (Ward 13), LaTrisha Vetaw (Ward 4), and Michael Rainville (Ward 3) voting to sustain the veto.

Both the mayor’s veto of the City budget, to which the council made over 70 amendments, and the council’s overturning of the veto are unprecedented in Minneapolis.

While the mayor rejected the budget, he approved the 6.8% property tax levy included in the budget. The tax levy represents the amount of money that Minneapolis homeowners pay towards the City expenses. The rest of the budget is paid through other means, such as fees, fines, sales tax, and federal aid.

Frey announced Wednesday during a press conference that he was vetoing the 2025 budget passed late Tuesday by the City Council, calling the Council’s amendments to the 2025 budget “incredibly problematic,” “reckless,” and "irresponsible."  

Frey claimed the budget amendments were councilmembers’ “pet projects” and take away funding from the police and clearing homeless encampments.

“When you ask me to remove a homeless encampment, ask our administration to garner the resources to prevent them from forming and then prevent us from getting the job done through legislation, you can cut that hypocrisy with a knife,” Frey said on Wednesday.

Multiple councilmembers responded to Frey’s continued criticism of the Council’s budget amendments.

“These aren’t ‘pet projects,’ these are your top priorities,” Ward 11 Councilmember and Minneapolis mayoral candidate Emily Koski said in an email sent to constituents Wednesday after Frey announced his veto.

Ward 7 Councilmember Katie Cashman said her budget amendments reflect what she heard during budget workshops that she held across her ward.

“We are on the ground, talking to our constituents day after day. We know what they need,” Cashman said at Thursday’s council meeting. “That's why we amended the budget to make sure that their needs were met.”

Ward 2 Councilmember Robin Wonsley addressed the mayor’s directed comments that the council’s amended budget defunds encampments clearings.

“The administration's current policy basically stands to expand significant resources on encampment clearings, which have shown to not reduce homelessness,” Wonsley said. “They just simply move unsheltered folks from one block to another.”

The City Council amendments include funding for emergency housing vouchers, public safety, public health, and economic development. Councilmembers held a press conference Wednesday about their work on the 2025 budget.

A lack of transparency with the Mayor’s Office was cited by Ward 5 Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison as a barrier during this budget season, especially compared to Ellison’s time with the “old guard.”

“There is significantly less communication from the admin side to the council,” Ellison said at Wednesday’s press conference. “And I think that is a contributor to how this process went.”

Not all councilmembers are in agreement with next year’s budget. Palmisano said it was “unicorn math” for the Council to be lowering the property tax levy as a “victory” while also adding at least $6.5 million in new spending.

Palmisano and Vetaw were the only councilmembers to not put forth amendments this budget cycle.

“All we have done is kick a budget crisis down the road,” Palmisano said at Thursday’s council meeting.

The City Council has concluded its meetings for the year. The City Council’s Administration and Enterprise Oversight Committee meets on Jan. 6, 2025.

‍Story updated: Dec. 12, 2024 1:40 p.m.

Story originally published: Dec. 12, 2024 9:30 a.m.