A new report from the watchdog group In$ight St. Paul is revealing the city faces significant economic issues.
John Minnilo is cofounder of the group and he explained the core problem to WCCO's Adam and Jordana.
"We have gotten ourselves, over many years now, into a situation where we can't afford to do things that we need to do," Minnilo says. "But at the same time, we are constantly putting together new programs without a way to fund those."
Currently, St. Paul has the highest sales tax in the state.
"The problem with that is that now you're starting to see restaurants close and businesses move," he said. "Why would anybody want to come to St. Paul and open a new retail store or restaurant knowing that they're gonna have to be subject to a higher sales tax?"
Home owners and renters are also paying more in property taxes which has led to people moving out of the city.
In$ight St. Paul was created as an independent non-partisan watchdog group to help fix what they claim are St. Paul's growing economic issues.
Manillo adds that the problems stem from adding new projects, and that comes even when they can't afford to do the things they need to do.
"We're talking about building a promenade on the river and downtown," Minillo says. "Well, we haven't figured out how to pay for that initially. Or again, how to pay for the ongoing maintenance and operation, how to pay for the staffing of things that we put together."
Mannilo further stated this has nothing to do with politics, but a desire to work with elected officials to find a solution.
"We're not pointing fingers or attacking anybody on this," he added. "We just want elected officials who we depend on to point us in the right direction."