Proposed Budget - Fiscal Years 2024-2025
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz released his two-year budget proposal for fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2025 on January 24. The budget calls for $58.31 billion in total expenditures in fiscal 2024, a 2.7 percent increase from the recommended level for fiscal 2023, and $57.29 billion in fiscal 2025, a 1.8 percent decline from fiscal 2024’s recommended level. The budget recommends general fund spending of $34.16 billion in fiscal 2024, a 24.6 percent increase from fiscal 2023, and $31.03 billion in fiscal 2025, a 9.2 percent decline from fiscal 2024. General fund revenues are projected at $25.15 billion in fiscal 2024 (a 14.2 percent decline from fiscal 2023) and $29.66 billion in fiscal 2025 (a 17.9 percent increase from fiscal 2024). The proposal assumes a budget reserve of $2.85 billion and a projected general fund balance of $1.27 billion.
Proposed Budget Highlights
The governor’s “One Minnesota Budget” focuses on making Minnesota the best state in the nation for children, investing in the state’s economic future, combatting climate change, and improving public safety. In addition, the recommended budget is aimed at lowering costs, cutting taxes, and improving lives for Minnesotans. Highlights of the budget proposal include:
Making Minnesota the Best State for Kids
- $12 billion proposal to lower the cost of childcare for middle-class families, reduce child poverty by expanding tax credits for families who need them the most, and make the largest investment in public education in state history.
- Provides universal school meals for students and expands access to special education and mental health resources.
Investing in Minnesota’s Economic Future
- $4.1 billion proposal would provide paid family and medical leave for Minnesota workers, bolster support for small businesses, and expand Minnesota’s workforce in critical areas.
- Includes climate proposals which expand clean energy and reduce climate impact.
- Provides funding to support farmers while expanding the state’s biofuel infrastructure and building soil health.
Protecting Minnesotans’ Health and Safety
- Lowers costs and expands access to high quality healthcare for children and families.
- Makes it easier for Minnesotans to purchase a home, afford rent, and maintain stable housing.
- Includes investments to permanently fund the work to end veterans’ homelessness statewide.
- Provides over $300 million in public safety aid for local governments, stands up a violent crime initiative, supports victims of crime and domestic violence, and invests in a more fair and equitable criminal justice system.
Tax Relief
- Recommends sending nearly $4 billion of the state’s surplus to residents in the form of checks up to $2,600.
- Proposes $219 million to reduce taxes on Social Security benefits.
- Increases the Local Government Aid and County Program Aid programs by $30 million each to help keep property taxes low.
- Calls for increasing the School Building Bond Agriculture Credit to lower property taxes for farmers.
Legalizing Adult-Use Cannabis
- Recommends funding for the safe and responsible legalization of adult-use cannabis and creates a new Office of Cannabis Management.
Building a Clean Transportation System
- Provides one-time funding for the purchase of 30 battery electric buses.
- Leverages federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) funds for efforts to reduce carbon emissions, expand the electric vehicle charging network, and build a more resilient transportation system.
- Provides a state-match for IIJA-funded multimodal transportation projects.
Investing in Minnesota’s Higher Education System
- Proposes increased funding for the state’s two public higher education systems and for the state’s tribal colleges.
- Includes funding to increase student mental health support.