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St. Paul voters to decide sales tax for roads and parks
The new tax, if approved, would raise $1 billion across 20 years and results in a 9.875% total sales tax
ST PAUL, Minn. — Saint Paul voters Tuesday will decide whether they’ll tax themselves more on purchases in exchange for investing $1 billion in roads, bridges, rec centers and park space across the next 20 years.
Supporters of Ballot Question 1 gathered on the Capital City’s East Side Friday to punctuate the need to play catchup on deferred maintenance of rec centers and rebuilding 24 major traffic arteries. The city has identified the arterial streets that would be in line for a complete reconstruction.
“We can make our streets safer, have our shared infrastructure be more climate friendly and enjoyable for all who seek to work, play and live here,” Vivian Ihekoronye of Faith in Minnesota told reporters while standing outside the Karibu Grocery and Deli on Payne Avenue.
The ballot spells out how the estimated revenue would be divvied up — $738,000 for streets and bridges, $246,000 parks and recreation projects and associated bonding costs.
“We’re going to invest and grow and thrive so I don’t have to feel like I’m placing my family’s lives in other people’s hands just to bike them to school,” Wes Burdine, the owner of the soccer bar known as Black Hart Saint Paul, remarked.
“A city where we can build an infrastructure of neighbors supporting neighbors just like they supported my business. I’m asking my friends, my neighbors, my community that we vote yes.”
The Saint Paul Area Chamber of Commerce is opposed to the ballot issue because the proposed one percent tax comes at the same time the legislature has adopted a 0.75 percent tax in the metro area to fund transit plus a 0.25 percent tax in the metro to raise money for housing vouchers.
If voters approve Ballot Question 1 Tuesday Saint Paul will have a total sales tax rate of 9.875 percent in 2024, which would be the highest in the state.
“To have all of these small businesses carrying a 10 percent sales tax when people can easily drive to the suburbs, it just wasn’t right,” City Council Member Jane Prince told KARE, explaining why she opposed putting the question to voters at this time.
She said she might have been fine with a lower sales tax hike, especially if it were dedicated strictly to fixing existing streets and facilities. But the resolution adopted by the council spelled out some of the money would be used to help finance new recreational facilities such as an athletic complex on the East Side.
Some of the money would potentially pay the city’s matching funds for big ticket items such as the River Balcony project. Prince worried property taxpayers will eventually foot the bill for the ongoing costs of building projects paid for with sales tax dollars.
“It’s one thing to build new capital projects but it takes property taxes to staff, operate and maintain them.”
But City Council member Mitra Jalali calls the ballot question an opportunity to make a critical investment in the future for local families.
“How do we get ahead of these challenges, not just endlessly reacting to them with less and less resources, and band aiding these issues, but to really look at where we are as a community and say this is our chance to get ahead.”
She pointed out that sales tax will also capture revenue from people visiting the Capitol City, so people from across the state that use Saint Paul roads and parks will get a chance to help pay for them.
The sales tax as a tool is considered a regressive tax because people pay the same tax rate regardless of their family income, but Minnesota exempts many items from sales taxes including groceries, clothing, prescription drugs, and over the counter medicine.
A criminal complaint alleges the suspect was driving nearly 100 mph at the time of the crash.
MINNEAPOLIS — Criminal charges have been filed against a St. Paul man in connection with a multi-vehicle crash Wednesday night in Minneapolis that left one person dead and several others injured.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office said Talon Covie-Carderell Walker, 29, is now charged with one count of criminal vehicular homicide.
According to a criminal complaint filed in the case, prosecutors believe Walker was driving a Chevy Avalanche pickup truck at high speeds when he started a chain-reaction crash on the I-94 exit to Dunwoody Boulevard on Wednesday evening. A total of seven vehicles were involved.
The State Patrol said Natalie Gubbay, 26, who was driving one of the other vehicles, died at the scene. Several others were hospitalized following the crash, including Walker. Two children were also among those injured.
The complaint alleges Walker was driving nearly 100 mph at the time of the crash. Investigators also said an open bottle of liquor was found in Walker’s vehicle. Results of a blood alcohol test are pending, according to the complaint, but investigators said Walker has previous driving convictions and lost his license in 2021.
Industry experts say several airlines were already waiting for deliveries of Boeing airplanes before the strike started.
MINNEAPOLIS — This week union workers who build planes for Boeing rejected a new contract deal.
64% of the 32,000 machinists voted against the deal in another major setback for the company. The strike that has halted most of Boeing’s aircraft production for over a month will continue.
The strike is further delaying deliveries for many Boeing customers who are already dealing with production delays.
It could soon have a big impact across the country, from concerns over plane safety to the cost of flying.
Hassan Shahidi with the Flight Safety Foundation says many airlines were already waiting for Boeing airplanes before the strike started.
“Prior to the strike there were already challenges,” Shahidi says. “This strike is exacerbating the situation even further.”
Shahidi says some of the airlines may have aging airplanes that will have to stay in use longer than the companies had planned for, but he argues that is a minor issue and he is not worried about passenger safety.
“All aircraft that are flying are certified by the FAA, are airworthy and safe,” Shahidi says.
He argues a much larger issue is how the strike will impact the airline industry’s plans to grow in the coming years.
He says most of the orders for new Boeing airplanes are from airlines that are expanding to meet passenger demand.
“To have other companies trying to come in and meet that gap is going to be challenging in terms of both supplies, labor and processes that are going to be needed to produce the highest quality of airplanes,” Shahidi says.
According to Delta’s website, the airline recently ordered 100 Boeing 737’s with an option to buy 30 more.
Those planes are scheduled to be delivered sometime next year and the company says some of those airplanes will be deployed to MSP.
KARE 11 reached out to Delta to see if the Boeing strike could affect the delivery of those planes, and whether the strike could impact Delta’s ability to add new flights in the coming years, but we haven’t heard back from the company at this time.
Sun Country says their entire fleet is made up of 43 Boeing airplanes.
A company spokesperson says all of Sun Country’s airplanes are “mid-life aircraft” meaning they are purchased used from other companies.
This spokesperson says this unique business model will insulate Sun Country from the impacts of the Boeing strike, and the company won’t see a shortage of airplanes anytime soon.
KARE 11 also reached out to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport to see if the airport and local travelers will see any impacts of the Boeing strike.
An MSP spokesperson sent KARE-11 the following statement:
“We do not anticipate any immediate impacts at MSP from the Boeing strike. While a strike could push back delivery of aircraft to airlines and lead to future schedule adjustments by those airlines, any impacts would not be expected to affect MSP any more than other airports across the country.”
The victim’s wife identified their neighbor as the likely suspect following ongoing disputes.
MINNEAPOLIS — A shooting that followed months of alleged harassment from one neighbor to another has escalated to a public sparring session between the Minneapolis Police Department and City Council.
According to court documents, MPD was called to a hospital in the city for reports of a gunshot victim on Oct. 23. Upon arrival, the officers learned a man, identified as Davis Maturi, had been shot and was transported to the hospital from his home on Grand Avenue in Minneapolis.
The criminal complaint in the case said Maturi’s wife told officers that their neighbor, identified as 54-year-old John Sawchak, “almost certainly” was the person who shot her husband, alleging that Sawchak had harassed and threatened the couple for months.
Mrs. Maturi allegedly told officers that her husband was pruning a tree near their property line on that day.
“Touch my tree again and I’ll kill you,” the suspect allegedly told the victim, according to the complaint.
The charging documents lists seven prior police records of incidents between the neighbors before the October shooting, including several allegations of threats and racism by Sawchak against Maturi.
Maturi remains hospitalized with a fractured spine. Sawchak is not currently in police custody.
A letter from ranking members of the Minneapolis City Council to Mayor Jacob Frey shows anger and blame being directed at the MPD for allegedly failing to act on Maturi’s numerous complaints against Sawchak before the shooting, and failing to arrest him immediately after the shooting.
“MPD still has not arrested the suspect despite charges from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for Attempted Murder, 1st Degree Assault, Stalking, and Harassment and a request from the HCAO for a warrant with $1 million bail. MPD told the HCAO they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for reasons of officer safety,’” said the letter from the Minneapolis City Council.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara scheduled a news conference on Friday afternoon to respond to the council’s accusations.
The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office confirmed Friday that it filed charges against Sawchak.
“After Mr. Sawchak shot Mr. Moturi on Oct. 23, the case was submitted to our office on Oct. 24. We immediately charged Mr. Sawchak with attempted murder, first-degree assault, and felony harassment and stalking, enhanced for racial bias,” said a statement from the office.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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