September 7–13, 2026
The City Council locked in affordable housing financing at three Saint Paul sites, set a public hearing on 2027 water rates, and several property fee votes are coming Wednesday.
At your front door. The City Council voted Wednesday, September 9 to refinance housing bonds for three Saint Paul affordable housing buildings: Emma Norton, Restoring Waters, and Nellie Francis Court. The refinancing is adopted by the council and lets all three properties keep operating without interruption. Refinancing bonds like these typically extends how long the buildings must keep rents affordable, which matters directly to residents living in them.
The council also voted Wednesday, September 9 to schedule a public hearing on proposed 2027 water rates. That hearing is your chance to speak before rates are locked in. Water costs ripple into rent for anyone whose landlord pays water, so the stakes are broader than just homeowners.
Your property tax bill. Several items hitting the council floor Wednesday, September 16 touch property owners directly. The council will vote to confirm fees for city tree removal work done in May 2026 and to assess costs for boarding up or securing vacant or damaged buildings that same month. If the city did that work at your address, the cost shows up as a fee added to your property tax bill. The council will also vote on a charge covering what the city spent collecting unpaid garbage bills from January through March 2026, a cost that gets spread across property owners citywide. If you think any of these fees were applied to your property in error, Wednesday's vote is the deadline to have it reviewed.
Around the region. Ramsey County joined a regional adult education partnership, adopted by the council Tuesday, September 8. The agreement pools resources with neighboring cities so residents can take classes in reading, math, and English closer to home.
Federally. The president signed a bill (HR 5366) extending tax breaks for people who suffered losses in federally declared disasters through early 2027. If a declared disaster caused you uninsured losses, you may be able to deduct more of that loss than before. Wildfire survivors who received help from nonprofits or government won't owe federal income tax on those payments either. A separate bill (HR 2069) now requires a category of federal contracts that was previously hidden from public view to be posted on USAspending.gov, so you can track more of where federal money goes. Several other federal bills signed this week dealt with matters outside Minnesota, including an Army Reserve land parcel in Kentucky and an EMS memorial timeline in Washington, D.C.
Coming up next week:
Property fees on Case Avenue and Rose Avenue. The council votes Wednesday, September 16 on two individual property cases: removing a garbage-bill debt from the tax record at 2027 Case Avenue, and confirming a special tax assessment that was appealed by the owner at 1053 Rose Avenue. Both become final if the council approves them.
Citywide garbage collection fees. Also Wednesday, September 16, the council votes on assessing property owners for the city's cost of collecting unpaid garbage bills from the first quarter of 2026. If it passes, that fee lands on tax bills for property owners across Saint Paul.
Federal items in the pipeline. A bill (HR 9342) that locks in free public access to government documents through libraries and online cleared committee and awaits a House floor vote, with no firm date set yet. Several other federal bills that cleared committee this week, covering topics like Nevada land transfers and a farm security preparedness drill, don't have direct Saint Paul effects.
See what's up for a vote now · Find your representatives