The Board of Estimate and Taxation Election Is This Year Too

This November the voters of Minneapolis will elect two people to represent them on the city’s Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) for the next 4 years. 

They will join the mayor, two city council members, and a park board commissioner to serve on the official government body that sets the limit on property tax increases, authorizes city borrowing and monitors city finances. 

Three people have filed for office to compete for the two seats. They are incumbent Steve Brandt, former park board member Bob Fine, and newcomer to local politics, Eric Harris Bernstein. Brandt and Fine were endorsed in July by the Minneapolis Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) party. 

What is the BET and Why Should We Care About It? 

 The BET, as established by the city charter, is required to meet at least monthly and is an independent governing entity within the city’s government structure. It holds at least one hearing before approving the maximum total levies that the city may collect for the general fund, and several additional smaller funds including for public housing, the park board, the BET itself and some retirements funds. It also approves borrowing money, by issuing bonds to pay for city and park infrastructure projects. To help do this, the BET also as the ability to review budgets and budget requests, helps coordinate budget and taxes between the city and park board. 

“As the primary fiscal oversight body in the city,” said Bernstein, “the BET has a large role in determining the resources we have to invest in core infrastructure and services. These things shape the city we live in, so we have to pay attention to the way they are funded.” 

“This Board with its ability to limit the maximum tax rate, affects every voter because they can limit property taxes,” said Fine. “It is also important because it can yield influence on what the city and park board will try to keep in the way of programs and services. Besides they approve municipal bond finance, which is how the city and park board maintain the city property, like sewers, streets and bridges.” 

“Voters should care about the Board of Estimate and Taxation,” said Brandt, who is also the group’s current president, “because they rejected a charter referendum to abolish it in 2009, and because it sets the ceiling each year on how much their property taxes may rise, authorizes borrowing by the city, and exercises high-level oversight of city finances.” 

In August, Samantha Pree-Stinson, the other directly elected person on the board, announced that she would not run for a second term. “I am grateful for her leadership in making the Board more accessible to residents with more frequent opportunities for public testimony and the webcasting of our meetings<’ said Brandt after her announcement in August. “She also brought a sharp focus on equity in public services. She supported my push to raise the visibility of the Board and to explore the feasibility of seeking additional revenue sources for the city budget.” 

  Who Are the Candidates? 

Bernstein entered the race following her announcement and did not compete for DFL endorsement. He grew up in New York City and lived in five states before settling in South Minneapolis where he now lives in the Lyndale neighborhood. “I have found the sense of community Minneapolis is unparalleled, and that is why I have made my life here.” He worked as a researcher at the Roosevelt Institute and , since 2020, as the Coalition Director of We Make Minnesota, a group of labor and community groups organizing for an equitable state tax code. He has been endorsed by State Representative Samantha Sencer Mura and City Council Members Aisha Chughtia and Aurin Chowdhury. 

Brandt grew up in Roseville and St. Paul, moved to Minneapolis when he was in college and now lives in the Kingfield Neighborhood. He was a reporter with the Start Tribune for 40 years, served on his neighborhood board, and, among other things since his retirement, spent five years on the city’s Capital Long-range Improvement Commission. Organizations endorsing him in addition to the Mpls DFL, include the Mpls Regional Labor Federation, Council 5 of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, the Laborers International Union of North America, and the Minneapolis Firefighters Local 82.

 Fine, who lives in Linden Hills, was first elected to the park board in 1997 and served 16 years on the park board before an unsuccessful run for mayor in 2013. He represented the southwest corner park district for three terms and then successfully ran for an at-large citywide seat for is fourth term. Throughout that time, he was the park board’s representative on the BET. “I have the experience of serving 16 years on this board and have a degree in mathematics, and understand that this Board with its ability to limit the maximum tax rate, affects every voter because they can limit property taxes.” 

Fine wants voters to know that “this Board is meant to be a check on taxing. It should be used to analyze & review budgets. To limit by seeking citizen input and to act by helping to keep city expenses down, which affects the taxes being levied.” 

  What Are Their Priorities? 

 Brandt was part of successful efforts this term to get all meetings broadcast with a new public comment section in every meeting and return to having a dedicated full time staff person. Looking ahead he is calling for a charter amendment to increase the size of the BET to 7 by adding a third directly elected BET member. 

Perhaps his biggest priority now, however, is exploring alternative revenue sources. “The city needs to diversify its revenues in order to get off the treadmill of solely using the property tax to balance the budget each year, and I have been a leader in advocating for that,” he said. 

Brandt said he favors “a look at the feasibility of income-based taxation, based on the lessons gained from the more than 5,000 localities that employ this tool. I'm most interested in the feasibility of a city income tax on high-earner households.” To do so, however, would require approval from the state legislature. 

Fine is opposed getting authority for a city income, or payroll tax. “This is not a well thought out idea and it is not the time to do this,” said Fine. “One problem is that it is intended for individuals with higher income. But they may not choose to live in the city. Additionally, many may move out. The net effect could be that home values decrease, causing an outcome of a greater need to increase residential property taxes to make up for the loss of value.” 

About Brandt’s a municipal income tax idea Bernstein said, “I am open to that conversation to take the pressure off property taxes, which are widely disliked, but I also think there are many ways to generate income from city assets and to use our existing funds more effectively.” “To adequately fund our needs moving forward,” he added, “we will need new revenue sources and investment strategies to maintain our basic obligations and encourage new growth in areas like affordable housing, which will make Minneapolis stronger and more vibrant for coming decades.” 

“The biggest issue will be how to diversify city revenues, and how to sell that to the Legislature’” said Brandt. In addition to a potential income or payroll tax, Brandt said, “We need to expand the downtown liquor-restaurant taxing district to include all entertainment areas that have emerged since the current boundaries were drawn decades ago, especially the entire North Loop.” 

Fine thinks the biggest policy issue the Board will be facing in the next term is setting the maximum tax rate, considering what is being proposed and its effect on property taxpayers. He believes that what is driving up property taxes is a reduction of downtown property values. 

“Downtown is the key to increasing values and thus increasing real property tax receipts,” he said. “The Board is a check on increasing taxes and should closely review city and park budgets.” 

“The most immediate issue will be the impact of falling downtown property values on homeowners and renters,” said Bernstein. “As more of the city funding burden falls onto residential areas, we will face steep headwinds in funding essential services. We will need to balance our commitment to these services against the understandable pocketbook concerns of voters.” 

“With fiscal challenges ahead, we need leaders who are committed to maintaining our shared resources like parks, infrastructure and public safety,” said Bernstein. “These are the things that make Minneapolis such a wonderful place to live and we cannot give up on that vision.” 

To learn more 

• Eric Harris Bernstein - www.ehbforbet.com, ehbforbet@gmail.com 
• Steve Brandt - www.brandtforbet.com, sbrandt51@gmail.com 
• Bob Fine - fineforbet@gmail.com