Coleman proposes drop in St. Paul tax levy

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman is proposing to steer about $2 million toward police, fire, libraries and lowering property taxes.

Coleman announced Monday he wants to scale back the 2012 property tax levy increase he originally unveiled in August. He's using excess money from tax-increment-financing programs, refinanced bonds and other sources. His new proposal would still be a 5.5 percent jump over this year's levy.

Residents complained about the hike at last week's truth-in-taxation hearing. But Coleman says the hearing is not what prompted the change.

"I was hoping that we could announce this prior to the truth-in-taxation hearing because I know people are really dealing with the challenges of trying to fight with their values going down and taxes going up," he said. "We've said from the beginning of this process that we were going to do whatever we can to keep that number as low as possible."

Under his new plan, the owner of a home valued at $149,000 would see a tax increase of $37. But that's $7 less than the initial increase outlined by Coleman in August.

The City Council will vote on the 2012 budget Wednesday.

City officials also found an additional $4 million from neighborhood grant projects that never materialized.