Minneapolis City Council — Transcript
Monday, October 5, 2026
Minneapolis Fire Department 2027 Budget Presentation
Emergency Management Department 2027 Budget Presentation
Minneapolis Police Department Fiscal Year 2025 Spending Review
Votes (3)
Mayor's Recommended 2027 Budget: Fire Department Presentation
Dissent: None
The Fire Department presented its 2027 budget request, emphasizing investments in staffing and operational costs to address increasing call volumes and maintain service levels. Key points included the plan to add 15 new sworn team members, the significant increase in the overtime budget driven by PTSD and other leaves, and the department's vision to achieve full staffing of four persons per engine company in line with NFPA 1710 standards. Council members questioned the sustainability of grant funding, the adequacy of mental wellness services, and the possibility of implementing chargebacks for non-resident services.
Mayor's Recommended 2027 Budget: Emergency Management Department Presentation
Dissent: None
Director Rachel Ser presented the Emergency Management Department's budget, noting a stable financial outlook with minor increases due to current service level adjustments and no new investments. The department's funding is primarily grant-based, with ongoing advocacy for federal support. Discussion focused on the challenges of federal grant funding, the department's crucial role in preparing the city for various hazards, and specific upcoming planning efforts for large-scale events like the 2028 NFL Draft and midterm elections. Council members praised the department's consistent performance and vital community response efforts.
Receive and File Memo: Minneapolis Police Department Spending for Fiscal Year 2025
Dissent: None
The committee reviewed a memo on the Minneapolis Police Department's (MPD) 2025 spending without a departmental presentation. Council members expressed significant concerns about reported overexpenditures across several categories, including contractual services, intergovernmental expenses, parking, miscellaneous, and travel. Questions were raised about the specifics of these overruns, the lack of transparency in the 'miscellaneous' category, and the city's mechanisms for controlling and alerting the mayor's office about departments exceeding their allocated budgets mid-year. The budget director explained that legal budgetary control is at the departmental level, but finance monitors line items and prepares to manage forecasted overages at year-end.
Notable Quotes (10)
We've been operating below the national standard per NFPA for many, many years by only having three persons on our engine company. and the standard recommends four.
I'm thrilled for these positions but I just want to see the longer um picture of that and the longer term expense when the grant expires.
The next question that I have is what staffing number do we need to be at in order to achieve the minimum four? Yes, ma'am. Uh through you, Madam Chair. Perfect world. We're looking at 576.45 firefighters for us to have the staffing reflective of the national standard.
My plan is to submit language for an ordinance uh for this body to review and hopefully approve that any non-M Minneapolis resident that we respond to for a motor vehicle accident, those services will be charged back to their insurance provider and then we would recoup a certain number of those funds.
All emergency management departments across the country are facing the similar challenge. Um, I have been engaged in a lot of advocacy with our uh, our federal representatives around this topic who have been really great partners in advocating at the federal level for continued funding for emergency management.
You are operating steady as you go. And I really find that to be an apt description of you and your whole department and the type of work that you do. Um, steady as you go for the city of Minneapolis and the times of emergencies.
our city's election and voter services, um, honestly, in my professional opinion, I have never run exercises where I've seen a department as prepared as our city's election and voter services. They have thought through every scenario and then some.
I just also want to kind of know if anyone knows how the department decides what is miscellaneous and what goes into it and how we get further visibility if this is the line item for miscellaneous what the money was actually spent for.
in the MPD presentation they mentioned that the 2025 overspending was due to mismanagement of uh their budget. That's their words, not mine. Um, so I'm curious which line items they saw specifically mismanagement and uh what they think they're going to do differently in those different line items.
the financial policy says the legal level of control for appropriations is at the department level. So when we go through these monthly reviews with departments and take a look at um their budget at the line item level, ultimately until the department as a whole hits their appropriated budget limit, the department hasn't so to speak exceeded its legal appropriation for the year.
Ordinances & Resolutions (8)
The primary financial document under discussion for the fire and emergency management departments.
National Fire Protection Association standard for deployment benchmarks for career fire departments, recommending four persons on an engine company.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration physicals for firefighters, noted as not compliant with NFPA requirements.
National Fire Protection Association requirements for firefighter physicals, which current OSHA physicals do not meet.
Request for Proposal process for the fire alerting system vendor selection.
Proposed language for an ordinance to charge non-Minneapolis residents' insurance for motor vehicle accident services.
Federal Emergency Management Agency, defining the role of the Emergency Management Department in public safety planning.
City policy that dictates the legal level of budget control is at the department level.