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Inver Grove Heights council directs staff to prepare preliminary 2026 levy at 5.74%
Summary
City Administrator Wilson presented a proposed 2026 general fund budget and recommended a preliminary property tax levy increase of 6.3%; after discussion the council directed staff to prepare levy resolution targeting a 5.74% preliminary levy for action at the Sept. 8 meeting.
City Administrator Wilson told the Inver Grove Heights City Council that the proposed 2026 general fund budget totals $36,668,206 and that about 83% of general fund operations would be funded by the property tax levy.
Wilson said Minnesota cities must adopt a preliminary levy no later than Sept. 30 and that a preliminary levy can be lowered but not raised later in the year. He proposed a preliminary levy package that would produce a 6.3% increase over 2025, which he estimated would add about $91.37 in city property taxes for the owner of a median-valued home in Inver Grove Heights ($362,200). Wilson attributed most of the levy growth to payroll costs from the new Minnesota paid family and medical leave requirement, settled union contracts, phase-in costs for federally funded police and fire hires and other previously committed items.
Council members questioned and discussed options to reduce the levy. Wilson outlined possible one-time and fund-balance options — including freezing the technology allocation, postponing the levy phase-in for COPS-funded police officers and using fund balances — but cautioned those would substitute one-time money for ongoing costs.
After discussion about staffing requests, reclassifications and parks maintenance needs, Council members expressed differing preferred maximum levy targets. Multiple council members said they could support a preliminary levy no higher than 5.74 percent; Administrator Wilson then summarized council direction. "If I'm hearing the council right, we can bring forward a preliminary levy at the 5.74% and we'll continue to go through the budget," Wilson said.
The finance director will prepare the formal levy resolutions and related materials for the council packet for the Sept. 8 meeting; the council will still be able to reduce the levy before the final adoption required by Dec. 28.
The council also discussed a menu of smaller budget reductions and the trade-offs implicit in cutting services (for example, sidewalk snow removal and park hours), and members emphasized the need to explain budget choices and service reductions clearly to residents.
Looking ahead, Wilson said the full community center, golf course and utility budgets — which are enterprise funds not supported by the general levy — will be on the October work session agenda, and the public truth-in-taxation hearing is proposed for Dec. 8 with final levy adoption planned for Dec. 15.
