Duluth mayor pledges population growth in the long-stalled city

DULUTH — New Mayor Roger Reinert elaborated for the first time Thursday night how he would begin to carry out his campaign promises, starting with a hold on property taxes in 2025.

Reinert delivered his first state of the city address in Denfeld High School's historic auditorium on the 100-day mark of his term, in which he's tussled with the wife of a billionaire buying and demolishing properties on Park Point and convened groups to study reviving the defunct Lester Park golf course and reviewed the city's controversial tourism partnership.

On Thursday, he spent more than an hour discussing the five priorities central to his campaign. His vision is not entirely dissimilar to that of former two-term Mayor Emily Larson, who he defeated by a sizable margin after a contentious race. His emphasis is on street repair, a broadened commercial tax base, housing, property tax relief and addressing issues centered on the city's downtown.

All of this, he said, will help grow the city's stagnant population. His goal is to grow the city of about 87,000 to over 90,000 by 2030, a number Duluth hasn't seen in more than four decades.

That growth, he said, would be a measure of whether his administration has carried out its plans.

"It is doable, and it is an absolute must," Reinert said.

Here are highlights from the speech:

Reinert pledged no increase to property taxes. The city of Duluth has raised property taxes for several years, although last year it was City Council action that boosted it to about a 3% increase from the proposed 2%. Thanks to a growing tax base, most residents didn't see an increase in the city portion of their taxes. The prior year it had been 9%.

Reinert also shared that less city money was now needed to pay for retiree health care, freeing up $4.5 million annually. Nearly two decades ago, fixed health care benefits for city retirees threatened to bankrupt Duluth. A plan by former Mayor Don Ness to consolidate health care plans and move retirees to what current employees had found them in court; a case the city eventually won. It reduced the liability by more than $100 million.

Reinert said the city will begin traveling and mapping every street in Duluth and categorize them, publicizing a repair schedule. More money will likely be spent on the more expensive reconstruction of roads next year, he said, but he hopes to repair or rebuild 15 miles a road per year, a few miles less than Larson had planned.

The state of downtown has become a larger issue since the pandemic, with concerns about cleanliness and crime. Last month, the city saw its second murder of the year when a woman was fatally stabbed downtown. Reinert said the city has employed extra police foot patrols, is enforcing panhandling laws and will develop a public awareness campaign about panhandling.

The mayor plans to propose public safety ordinance changes to the City Council, but didn't specify what those were. He also said the city would ask St. Louis County and the Minnesota Department of Transportation to help deal with homeless encampments.

Most of the housing projects Reinert touted were underway long before his election, but he said he wanted the city to be less reliant on tax increment financing as an incentive for developers, touting bonding as a better method to help developers pay for upfront costs.

"It's a strategy we used to use all the time, and haven't touched for over a decade," he said, later noting he would also like to use it for street repairs, if interest rates fall.

He said a major focus of housing efforts will be in the downtown area, and on single-family homes across the city.

Reinert hopes to make the Duluth Economic Development Authority independent from the city, similar to how the Duluth Transit Authority and other city authorities operate. It would allow more freedom from the politics of City Hall, he said, and help increase the city's tax base.

Reinert, 53, is a former state legislator and Duluth city councilor, who most recently served as an adjunct instructor at the College of St. Scholastica. He is also a commander with the U.S. Navy Reserves, and just returned from a weekend serving.