Blizzard warnings in Northwest Minnesota, winter weather advisories across the state

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Property owners across Minnesota could be asked to come up with nearly $1 billion more for city, county and other local government operations, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Revenue.

first statewide look at preliminary levies

 show the maximum that taxes can rise — and it amounts to 6.9 percent more in total for 2026. The data shows the total tax asks amount to $948 million above what property owners paid this year, including some increases resulting from school district levies that voters approved this month.

Local governments say they face growing costs for labor, benefits and goods, along with expenses tied to requirements passed down by the state and federal governments, especially the massive federal tax and spending bill passed by Congress this summer and signed by President Donald Trump.

“What this federal bill did, particularly around the areas of Medicaid and SNAP, is reduce those reimbursements to counties even more, and actually made some policy changes where we could be on the hook for the cost of those benefits,” said Matt Hilgart, government relations manager for the Association of Minnesota Counties. “They are substantial to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. So those are the concerns that we're hearing from counties.”

 of the proposed property tax levies of counties, cities, schools, townships and special taxing districts. 

City and county tax levy increases averaging between 8 and almost 9 percent. For townships, it’s 5.6 percent higher than last year. Special jurisdictions, such as housing or development authorities and watershed districts with taxing power, are proposing a 4.6 percent change to their levies on average.

There are outliers on both ends of the averages. Some jurisdictions are proposing to hold their taxes flat or even cut them slightly while others are pursuing whopping boosts. 

“Everything you know, [the] age of your infrastructure, where you are in your capital, do you have a large capital project that you want to pay for?” said Pierre Willette, who works in government relations for the League of Minnesota Cities. “Every city is different. It might depend on what you do with property taxes the year before as well.”

And there is an important caveat: Some smaller cities can show a steep increase in their tax levy just by seeking tens of thousands of dollars more on a low levy base to begin with; on the flip side, some local governments are asking for millions of dollars more but can spread it across a broader tax base and keep the overall percentage increase down.

Differing classification rates mean not every property owner in a jurisdiction will see the same bump in their specific tax bill. 

“An 8 percent levy increase does not necessitate an 8 percent property tax increase,” Hilgart said. “There could be tax base growth. So you could be in a fortunate county that's seen a lot of development and have even a 10 percent levy increase, but a zero percent change in your actual property tax bill.”

The rates shown in the new data aren’t final. They can still be shaved down but cannot rise from that level. Truth in taxation meetings are the next step, with notices to every parcel owner arriving soon. 

In 2025, the final levies were a combined $63 million lower than what was proposed. 

Levies for school districts that won voter approval in the November election are locked in. Around Minnesota, 

Minnesota News

Politics and Government News

NewsPartners

Homepage

Peter Cox

Author

Preliminary levies around the state add up to $948 million more than what property owners paid in 2025. The increases could still get shaved down as local governments hold hearings to allow for public input.

Minnesota property tax levies could rise by nearly $1 billion for 2026, state figures show

Go Deeper.

Like this?