Soy Boy Frey gave his 2021 budget address this morning and it is hilarious! The city‘s budget has 55% of its revenue come from sources outside of property taxes (parking, events, things of that nature) and that part of the budget is decreasing by over 32 million. The choices to recoup the revenue are budget cuts or increasing property taxes. A 15% levy increase would be necessary to make up the losses with property taxes alone, so he says that is not an option. The city is also getting less in state aid “simply because the city is growing faster than any other city in the state”...well, that problem is going away as people leave. He is also whining that the feds did not have a national WuFlu response and that is harming the city.
Proposed solutions:
- Hiring freeze for city employees extended through 2021
- Reorganization aka cuts
- MPD included in the reorganization, expected to evaluate which calls require armed response
- Reduce workforce by offering a retirement program to avoid laying off people by seniority because that would affect BIPOCBBQs “disproportionately”
- Scale back programming costs, but have to prioritize programs that help “the most vulnerable”
- 5.75% levy increase on property taxes
More whining about the poor BIPOCBBQs being shut out of home ownership, validates the George Floyd autonomous zone as a “sacred space”, he thinks Minneapolis can be a blueprint for creating a more just, diverse city. He talks about Camden as an example for disbanding the police department...seems like he is coming around to that side. He says that officers leaving MPD will help them achieve that vision. They expect 100 officers to resign by the end of 2021 and those positions will be included in the hiring freeze to “avoid increasing property taxes” more than the 5.75% increase. They have reinstated the community service officers who were cut at the end of the 2020 budget. He says the abolish police side and his side have more in common than they think. They are going to divert MPD staff to 311 to take crime reports over the phone. The city is going to fund an office space for the Office of Violence Prevention to make the department more visible to the community. The unarmed community outreach workers will work from 8pm-2am and they are supposed to “intervene” after a shooting to prevent retaliation. The city has invested 70 million into “affordable housing“, which in Minneapolis means lining the pockets of developers, and Soy Boy will continue investing significant funding into that program. He finishes the address by saying the state and federal governments need to give financial support to Minneapolis and call for unity uwu. He also says no single policy will unravel 400 years of systemic waycism.
Eat shit, Frey! Your mismanagement and incompetence is killing the city, congrats.