St. Paul’s east side set to lose public library in mayor’s proposed budget cuts
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Maree Lee and Kmari Watson come to Dayton’s Bluff library almost every day.
They're engaged and have brought their three kids with them ever since they were born. To them, it’s like a second home.
“I mean, I like to give them a challenge, you know, read as many books as you can, and whoever wins gets to sit in the front seat with me,” Watson said. “Make them read all these little books out here, little picture books in here, let them run around, color books, the computers, everything.”
Watson and Lee live a couple houses down from the library on East 7th Street in St. Paul. Lee said she doesn’t know where the nearest library would be if the city shuts it down, as Mayor Kaholy Her proposed in her 2027 budget.
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It’s part of numerous cuts Her suggested — combined with property tax increases — to close a $26 million budget deficit. The city is expected to pass its budget in December.
Her said in a statement to MPR News the Dayton’s Bluff branch of the St. Paul Public Library was among the least used locations. It also has one of the most expensive leases at $150,000, which the city pays yearly to Metro State University.
"St. Paul is facing difficult financial choices, and I have a responsibility to make sure we invest in a library system we can sustain for generations to come,” Her said.
She said staff will keep their job and be reassigned to another location.
While the city said usage is low, Council member Cheniqua Johnson argues that isn’t the full story. She said Dayton’s Bluff gets more than 41,000 visitors a year and has some of the highest Wi-Fi and computer usage.
“Are we just saying that they have to go somewhere else?” Johnson said. “Like that's the part that doesn't necessarily make sense to me.”
Dayton’s Bluff is in Johnson’s ward, which she said is already an under-resourced community home to some families making less than $3,000 a year.
“We're taking that resource and something that's been on the east side for 22 years out of the east side with no plans to provide anything alternatively. Or even just, like, no plans to reopen,” she said. “There isn't anything in the track. I've heard a couple times people have shared that they're working with a council member to find alternatives, and I just want to be clear that right now in the budget there's no budgeted alternatives.”
Beth Burns, executive director of the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library, a nonprofit fundraising group, said there have been discussions about how to serve Dayton’s Bluff. That includes putting a library back in the neighborhood if the proposed shutdown goes through, she said.
While Burns agrees the number of visitors at Dayton’s Bluff has been low for a few years, she said it’s nice to see how much people love libraries and don’t want them to close.
“Even if the library that's there right now is not being as deeply utilized as maybe other libraries in the system, let's figure out why that is,” Burns said. “And then let's create affordable, accessible library services for that neighborhood that are going to be better used, better supported and affordable in a way that the city can sustain.”
Burns said part of the reason they haven’t invested in the library up to this point is because the space is leased from Metro State.
“Making investments in the physical facilities is more challenging because you are actually talking about making investments in a building that's owned by Metro State, not the city of St. Paul,” she said.
Lee said she doesn’t know what she’ll do if the library closes. Her dad attended Metro State and used to bring her to the stacks while he studied.
Her fond memories are partly why she does that for her children.
“I think it's important that we keep our kids reading,” she said. “Especially in a space that's public and free for everyone to come and use.”
Correction (August 30, 2026): A previous version of the story misstated the branch’s annual visitors.
