St. Paul City Council Vice President Nelsie Yang is pushing her colleagues to think a lot bigger about their own jobs and paychecks. At a budget committee meeting on Wednesday, Yang urged the city to look at boosting council salaries by as much as 40% and expanding official duties and staff so the role is realistic for people with young families.
Yang told the committee that the current part-time setup effectively forces many would-be public servants to juggle side jobs, which in turn narrows who can afford to serve and when they are available to meet with residents. The suggestion has already kicked off pointed questions about legal constraints, budget tradeoffs, and how anything new would line up with the next election cycle.
What Yang proposed
At the June 24 committee meeting, Yang laid out a concept for raising base council pay and tacking on small leadership stipends - $5,000 for the council president and $2,500 for the vice president - as reported by the Pioneer Press. She argued that paying more would make it possible for parents and working professionals to run for council without leaning on outside employment, which could free up more daytime hours for constituent meetings.
According to the Pioneer Press, the conversation also touched on formalizing new staff roles and creating an office for arts and culture, tying the pay debate to a broader look at how the council actually functions day to day.
How pay and timing are set now
The City of Saint Paul currently classifies the council as a part-time legislative body, and the existing council term runs through Dec. 31, 2028, which puts all seven ward seats on the ballot in 2028, according to the city's 2026 proposed budget. That calendar is not a side detail: structural changes that involve compensation typically sync up with the next election and incoming term, rather than landing in the middle of one.
The same budget materials spell out the council's current staff support and operating budget, which form the baseline for any talk of expanding duties, staff positions, or new offices under Yang's concept.
Legal limits and the math
There is also a hard legal tether to contend with. Under city code, council pay is linked directly to the mayor's salary. By ordinance, each councilmember currently earns 50% of what the mayor makes, so bumping that base rate above the 50% mark would require changes to city rules or even the charter, according to Municode.
Supporters at the meeting walked through scenarios that would move council pay closer to 70% of the mayor's salary, which would push annual compensation into the low six figures, on top of the relatively modest leadership supplements already mentioned. City staff were tasked with coming back with the precise mechanics and fiscal impact of those options so councilmembers can see what a charter amendment or ordinance change would actually entail, per the city's budget materials.
How St. Paul compares
Across the river, Minneapolis councilmembers take home roughly $110,000 a year, a level many there treat as full-time pay and one that regularly surfaces in St. Paul's regional comparisons, as reported by the Star Tribune. Yang and her allies argue that nudging St. Paul toward that range could draw a wider field of candidates and ease the pressure on councilmembers to maintain outside jobs.
Critics, for their part, are expected to zero in on cost, optics, and the basic question of whether a bigger paycheck alone does much to improve representation or responsiveness at City Hall.
Next steps
Councilmembers have asked staff to lay out specific options, price tags, and legal steps so any new system can be aligned with the 2028 election and the start of the next council term, according to the city's budget packet. Because the council is defined as part-time in city ordinance and its pay is pegged to the mayoral formula, most observers say that any meaningful overhaul would likely require a voter-approved charter amendment and would not take effect until the new term begins in early 2029.
All of that sets up a fall full of budget and charter committee hearings, where staff are expected to present hard numbers and a potential legal roadmap while councilmembers decide how far they are willing to go in reshaping their own jobs.
