How the CIB Community Grant Process Works

By Jason Shiggs, SUPC Vice Chair

If you were given $1,000,000 and you could only use it to improve the lives of the citizens of Saint Paul, how would you spend this money? That is the basic idea behind the Community Capital Improvement Budget (CIB) Grant Process. But instead of one project, the funds are divided among several projects until the full million dollars is allotted.

The Capital Improvement Budget (CIB) Community Proposal process follows a structured, multi-step lifecycle that begins with residents submitting ideas for city infrastructure improvements. These submissions were due on February 20th, 2026. After the application period closes, City staff and the CIB Committee review proposals for eligibility, ensuring they meet requirements like public ownership, long-term impact, and feasibility. The eligible proposals are presented to the public and the CIB Committee on March 23rd and April 20th in the Public Presentation phase. The presenters are asked to explain their proposals and answer any questions for the committee or the public.

This leads us into the Community Polling Period from March 20th to May 4th, where the public can vote on which projects they believe are the most beneficial to the city. Neighbors can vote on up to five proposals. It is important for people to vote. It is amazing that Saint Paul has a process that can direct your tax dollars into a community-based project based on what citizens feel is important. (To vote, see: https://stpaul.abalancingact.com/2026CIB). You can select up to five projects, then rank your choices from most desirable to least, with most desired being 1.

After the Public Presentation and the Public Rating period, the CIB Committee moves forward to a deeper evaluation and produces the Tentative CIB Committee Recommendations. The project presentations, community polling data, and financial impact on the overall available funds are taken into account. The report states which projects the committee believes should be funded ahead of the June 8th Public Hearing.

At the June 8th Public Hearing, the public gets to provide feedback on the CIB Committee's Tentative Recommendations. All accepted projects are known. They are tentatively ranked based on the CIB Committee score for the public to see. Everything is very transparent. After this point, it is out of the general public's hands.

Following the Public Hearing, the process moves into Final Deliberation, where the CIB Committee conducts a final review of applications to select projects for funding. The Committee then sends its Recommendation to the Mayor by June 30th, after which the Mayor incorporates these recommendations into the Mayor’s Proposed Budget, published by August 15, 2026. The cycle concludes with City Council Review and Budget Adoption, during which the Council examines the proposed budget in the fall before adopting the final budget in December 2026.

This is how the sausage is made in a democracy at a local level. There are plenty of opportunities for input from citizens and many ways to make your preferences known. The important thing is to get involved. Know what is happening in your community. Stay informed. And if you didn’t get to propose a project this time around, be ready—because in two years, we get to do it again!