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Isanti County adopts 2026 budget, sets levy at 1.99% after 3-2 vote
Summary
After months of work and debate over fund balance use, the Isanti County Board of Commissioners certified a $61.75 million budget and set the 2026 levy at a 1.99% increase, approved 3-2. Commissioners debated options ranging from 3.63% to 1.99% and discussed long-term reserve impacts.
Isanti County commissioners on Dec. 16 adopted the county's 2026 certified budget and set the levy at a 1.99% increase after a 3-2 roll-call vote.
County staff presented three levy options tied to varying uses of fund balance and capital reserves. Options discussed included a 3.63% levy that would use roughly $450,000 from capital funds, a 2.85% option that would use about $900,000 of fund balance, and the 1.99% option the board ultimately approved. Staff said the 1.99% scenario represented an increase in levy revenue on the order of $550,513 compared with the prior year and resulted in a certified county-wide budget figure of $61,753,398 (the operating/net budget after revenues and aids appears in staff materials as $28,153,340).
Commissioners voiced competing priorities during deliberations: some argued for a lower levy now to shield taxpayers from near-term increases, while others urged caution about drawing down the county's reserve funds. One commissioner said the board would be "better off taking a small increase this year than facing a much larger increase next year," citing uncertainty around state mandates and personnel costs. Another commissioner said the board should preserve capital reserves as a hedge against future budget shocks.
The final motion to set the levy at 1.99% passed 3-2. The roll call on the certified budget and levy recorded three votes in favor and two opposed; the transcript records the passage as 3 to 2. The board also approved related budget motions and year-end accounting transfers that staff said were necessary to reflect ARPA-committed expenditures and to move certain project costs into the appropriate funds.
What happens next: County staff will publish the certified levy and related budget documents as required by statute. Commissioners said they plan to continue monitoring the capital-improvement fund and may revisit fund-balance policy and the capital program in future meetings.
