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Hennepin County law, safety and justice budget: higher property-tax request, expanded civil legal services and an evolving public defender structure
Summary
County staff told the Administration Operations and Budget Committee the Law, Safety and Justice line of business would seek a 2026 operating budget of about $473.6 million and a property-tax request of about $410.5 million, with major increases driven by sheriff and corrections costs and a continued expansion of adult representation services.
Hennepin County presented the Law, Safety and Justice portion of its 2026 proposed budget at an Oct. 1 Administration Operations and Budget Committee hearing, emphasizing disparity-elimination priorities, early intervention strategies and structural changes in indigent defense support.
"This reflects not only the need in our community, but also the county's continued investment in residents," Assistant County Administrator for Law, Safety and Justice Chella Guzman Viegert told commissioners as she outlined the proposed line-of-business numbers and key program shifts.
The Law, Safety and Justice line of business proposes an overall operating budget of roughly $473,600,000 for 2026, a 4.7% increase over the 2025 adjusted budget, Guzman Viegert said. The line's property-tax request is about $410,500,000, a roughly 9% increase from the prior year; Guzman Viegert said much of the property-tax increase is driven by departmental requests from the sheriff's office and community…
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