Forest Lake staff outlines levy options; council narrows choices ahead of truth‑in‑taxation hearing

City finance staff presented multiple options for the 2026 levy Tuesday, laying out what each scenario would fund and which hires would be delayed or trimmed to lower the tax increase.

The highest scenario — 12.59% — reflected the preliminary levy and full list of proposed hires and capital contributions (including a police sergeant, two patrol officers, a police administrative assistant, one public works maintenance operator and a deputy fire chief). The 9.25% scenario removes one police sergeant and uses anticipated new franchise fee revenue; the 8.9% option delays several hires until Feb. 1; and the 7.9% option relies in part on expected 2025 surplus funds and a modest rollback of planned capital equipment contributions to lower the levy to about 7.9%.

Staff noted tradeoffs: using surplus funds or rolling back capital contributions would reduce the levy now but increase pressure on next year’s budget; hiring at higher step levels was budgeted conservatively to avoid unexpected overages but could be constrained by council direction to hire at entry step. Public works staff reported roughly 12,000 park hours of work in 2024 and argued that hiring a parks/public‑works position would both restore parks service and free street/utilities staff to return to core duties.

Council indicated support for presenting multiple scenarios at the public hearing to demonstrate the changes staff and council have made while inviting public feedback at the Dec. 8 truth‑in‑taxation meeting.

Next steps: staff will present the scenarios at the truth‑in‑taxation hearing and deliver supporting charts that show how the levy was reduced from the preliminary number.