Patch Candidate Profile: Steve Brandt​ For Minneapolis Tax Board

MINNEAPOLIS — Steve Brandt is one of the four candidates running for the Board of Estimate and Taxation in Minneapolis.

Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles over the coming weeks.

Brandt, 69, and his wife Lynda McDonnell have two adult sons.

Are you running for office in Minneapolis? Contact William Bornhoft at william.bornhoft@patch.com for information on being featured in a candidate profile and submitting campaign announcements to Patch.

Town of Residence: Minneapolis

Party Affiliation: DFL

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?: No

Occupation: Retired after 40 years as a Star Tribune reporter

Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Office

Council-appointed member since 2017 of the Minneapolis Capital Long-Range Improvement Committee, which reviews city department capital budget requests and recommends infrastructure priorities to the mayor and City council.

Education

• B.A. in Journalism, University of Minnesota
• National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship at University of Michigan

Why are you seeking elective office?

As a reporter, I accumulated deep knowledge of government finances, especially for the city of Minneapolis. I've read and understand the city's budget, have asked finance officials hundreds of questions over the years to better understand it, and have attended and interpreted Board of Estimate decisions for readers as a reporter. I want to put that knowledge to work in the board's twin jobs of setting the city's property taxation limit each year and authorizing city borrowing. Both retiring current board members have urged me to run and support my candidacy because they know that I have the understanding of city finances to do the job.

The single most pressing issue facing our (board, district, etc.) is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The most pressing issue affecting Board of Estimate and Taxation decisions is the stagnation of the city's tax base caused by pandemic-related factors. The major factor behind this is that downtown office towers have lost value because of their vacancies as workers do their jobs at home. This shifts more of the tax burden onto the two remaining major sectors of property--homeowners and rental housing. North Side homeowners will feel a particular burden in 2022 because of sharp assessment increases there. As a board member, I'd work to moderate property tax increases while this situation persists.

What are the critical differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

Experience. I know city finances, the city budget, the property tax system and the role of the board. This is the only elected position I will ever seek. I'm not using it as a stepping stone to other office.

If you are a challenger, in what way has the current board or officeholder failed the community (or district or constituency)?

The BET incumbents are not seeking reelection.

Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.

My goal in participating in the setting of the maximum property tax limit each year as a board member would be to keep a sustainable balance between the needs of the city and the ability of property owners to pay.

As a 163-year-old city, Minneapolis has a growing infrastructure gap between what city departments are requesting to keep their facilities in good repair, and the amount allocated by the City Council and mayor to do so. This gap is approximately $135 million to $145 million for the 2023-2026 period. I'd like to work with the mayor and Council to free more city bonding capacity to address this need, or to find alternative financing mechanisms to do so.

I also believe that the state's current property taxation law unfairly penalizes the owners of rental property--and through their rents, their tenants. Apartment buildings are effectively taxed at a 25 percent higher rate than homeowners like me. Apartment owners pass on these costs to tenants; a neighboring apartment owner told me that this year's increase alone amounted to $70 per tenant per month. Although the BET alone can't change this, I'd work to address this situation by persuading the Council to include renter relief in its legislative agenda, and then build a coalition of renter groups statewide to advocate for more equal treatment of rental property. Achieving this would be a major boost to making rental property more affordable.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

As a reporter, I studied Minneapolis finances, and attended and interpreted Board of Estimate and Taxation decisions through news articles that readers could understand. I also wrote knowledgeably about city budget issues. I also was an active participant in deliberations by CLIC, the city capital budgeting task force. This background prompted the two incumbents on the Board of Estimate to recruit me to run when they decided not to seek another term.

The best advice ever shared with me was:

As the late Gov. Rudy Perpich liked to say, none of us is as smart as all of us.

What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

I've been an active community member. I've served on my neighborhood association board in Kingfield, coached youth soccer and helped to lead a scout troop, chaired two parish councils, and was active in union leadership at my workplace. I was a leading contributor to the Mapping Prejudice Project that documented the location of racially exclusive property deed covenants in Minneapolis and Hennepin County. I've worked for better treatment of undocumented workers in terms of driver license access and other rights. I've worked to register voters in underrepresented parts of the city. I have worked for several years as a National Park Service volunteer to work toward clearing invasive plants at Coldwater spring. I also served on the Great Northern Greenway task force that is working to finish a seamless recreational corridor across north and northeast Minneapolis, including a river crossing.