About In$ight St. Paul

About in$ight St. Paul

An informed, non-partisan fiscal watchdog group for St. Paul

In$ight St. Paul is a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group made up largely of St. Paul residents and businesses concerned about the need for stronger financial management of St. Paul. St. Paul is facing significant financial challenges that cannot be ignored.

Our goal is to unpack, understand and explain the serious tax, spending and debt problems confronting St. Paul and work with policymakers and the community to develop sound solutions that ensure a strong financial future for the City.

Advocates of Good Government

Transparency, fiscal responsibility and accountability

We love St. Paul and believe that transparency and accountability are the cornerstones of good government. The City’s finances are intertwined with those of regional, state and federal governments in often-complicated relationships. We believe the City needs an outside group such as ours to independently research, analyze and monitor St. Paul’s fiscal affairs.

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Why it Matters

We love St. Paul, but the City is nearing a fiscal crisis without lasting change.

To succeed, St. Paul needs to maintain a robust infrastructure, offer good services at a reasonable cost to taxpayers and provide a sound fiscal environment that will sustain and attract investment. St. Paul is Minnesota’s capital City; hence the entire state has an interest in seeing the city do well.

Snapshots

NEW STRAINS ON OUTSIDE BACKERS –-  St. Paul is highly dependent on governments from beyond the City, such as the state and federal governments, for funding. Much of this support system is in jeopardy now as outside funders face intensifying fiscal pressures.

EXORBITANT SPENDING ON BIKE TRAILS – There has been excessive building of new, separated bike trails. The City chose to believe the results of a survey that 85 percent of just 82 respondents favored building the Summit Avenue Regional Trail (SART), dismissing a petition of 3,000 respondents against it. Is spending $2.5 million-plus per mile to build bike trails – used by only a small portion of the community mostly in fair weather, and damaging to tree canopy –- the best use of our taxpayer dollars?

MISTAKEN PRIORITIES AT PARKS AND REC – Four major park and recreational facilities are estimated to cost more than $200 million. This, without adequately budgeting for them or considering the added cost and impact on the property tax levy to operate and maintain them. The City needs to do more to maintain its existing parks and recreational facilities, yet it plans to spend more than $4.5 million in 2025 to plan and design these new facilities.

AFTER YEARS OF GAINS, ST. PAUL’S PROPERTY TAX BASE IS FALLING – The City’s property tax base fell 2.2 percent in 2025 from 2024, due primarily to a significant decline in commercial-industrial real estate values. That caused a shift in the overall tax burden to residential properties. The 2.2 percent drop was the first annual decline in at least nine years, a stretch when annual taxbase increases topped 10 percent in at least two years.

Working Groups

To date, In$ight St. Paul has established the following working groups to address the issues of greatest concern:

  • Capital Improvements budget (chair, Carl Michaud).
  • Tax increment financing (chair, John Mannillo).
  • Payments in lieu of taxes (chair, Mary Morris).
  • Legal (chair, Jane Prince).
  • Communications (chair, Donna Swanson).
  • Legislative (co-chairs, Allyson Hartle and Julian Loscalzo).

A unique and passionate group of informed residents with deep knowledge of city government and budgeting

Our group consists of nearly 200 members, with widely varying backgrounds. Collectively, many of them represent hundreds of years of public service, working for the City of St. Paul or other governments. Many others have had significant experience in private sector jobs. Still others offer valuable common-sense perspectives as street-level property owners or citizens concerned about the City’s future. We issued our first report and supporting documents on Oct. 29, 2024. The report was based on extensive research by Greg Blees, who worked for 32 years in various budget-related positions for the City of St. Paul including 9 years as the budget director for Mayor George Latimer and 14 years as the fiscal policy director for the St. Paul City Council. Our co-chairs are Jane Prince, a Council member from 2015 to 2023, and Gary Todd, chair of Save Our Streets (SOS) and a retired project manager for Thomson Reuters. In addition to Blees, Prince and Todd, our steering committee includes:

  • Joe Errigo, CEO from 1971 to 2006 of St. Paul-based Common Bond Communities, which provides affordable housing and related services for nearly 14,000 people in four states.
  • Julian Loscalzo, owner/operator of Ballpark Tours Inc. and public affairs consultant.
  • John Mannillo, retired commercial real estate broker/developer and the leader of St. Paul’s Friday Lunch Discussion Group. He is also chair of Saint Paul STRONG, a community platform focused on long-term stability.
  • Gerry McInerney, business owner and 35-year homeowner in St. Paul, former legislative aide to Ward 1 City Council member.
  • Carl Michaud, retired from Hennepin County, where he was the assistant county administrator for public works.

  • Jane Prince, former St. Paul City Council Member, Ward 7.

  • Gary Todd, local activist, opposed the city’s plans for a new bikeway along Summit Ave.

  • Greg Blees, former St. Paul City Budget Director.

  • Donna Swanson, public affairs consultant.
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