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Minneapolis staff recommend $187,000 mayoral salary for 2026 term; council pay held steady short‑term

Minneapolis City Budget Committee · December 9, 2025

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Summary

A Guidehouse peer‑city review presented to the Minneapolis Budget Committee recommends setting the mayor's 2026 term salary at $187,000 and leaving council pay unchanged for the first two years of the term, with COLA‑based adjustments proposed beginning in 2028; the committee voted to forward the resolution to the full council.

City budget staff on Monday recommended setting the Minneapolis mayor’s salary at $187,000 for the elective term beginning Jan. 2, 2026, while leaving council members’ pay unchanged for the first two years of that term.

City Clerk Casey Carl told the Budget Committee the recommendation is based on a Guidehouse analysis of 22 peer cities (19 responses) chosen for similar executive‑mayor structures and economic scale. Carl said the Minneapolis mayor’s current salary, set in 2021, is $140,814 and that the average mayoral salary among the peer pool is roughly $198,000 today and will rise to about $206,000 once known and anticipated increases take effect in 2026. “For mayor, the salary be set at $187,000 for the next elective term,” Carl said, summarizing staff’s recommended figure.

Carl said council members currently receive $109,846 and that the survey showed council pay in Minneapolis is slightly above the peer average today. Staff recommended holding council salaries at the current rate for the first two years of the 2026–2029 term (to be effective Jan. 5, 2026) and then applying the percentage COLA used for most city bargaining units beginning in 2028 to keep council pay near the median of peer cities.

Council members debated the item briefly and then voted in committee to forward a draft resolution for final action by the full council at its adjourned meeting. Chair Ayesha Chugtai moved approval and the motion carried by voice vote.

Why it matters: Salaries for elected officials must be set in the final year of an elective term and become effective in the next term under state law and the city’s ordinance process; the committee action starts the formal process that will allow the full council to consider a final resolution as part of the 2026 budget.

The full council is slated to consider the resolution at an adjourned session this week as part of the operating budget process.