Proposed budget hikes city taxes

A city manager's budget proposal of nearly $218 million for 2027 will be getting scrutiny from the Minot City Council in coming days.

The proposed budget, while up just 0.8% overall from 2026, includes a sizable property tax increase, from about $354 per $100,000 of property value to $447. The $96 increase amounts to 27.36%.

"I'm not going to support a budget that raises property taxes. I absolutely will not do it," council member Scott Samuelson said.

Council member Mike Blessum noted the city went in the right direction with the lower taxes over the past two years. Data presented by the city show Minot with the lowest combined sales and property taxes and special assessments of the state's six largest cities, at $999 per capita.

"Now the question is" How do we sustain those gains, and how do we avoid giving them all back immediately?" Blessum said. "We've done a wonderful job of reducing the rate of growth so far. We've done a wonderful job of getting the mindsets right to give us the opportunity to go where we need to go, and now we actually have to get to the hard work of executing on what we do next. And, in my opinion, what we do next is not rocketing the property tax back up and undoing the hard work of two years and all the great work that the staff have done to get there."

City Manager Tom Joyce acknowledged the property tax does go up significantly, but he also noted a corresponding reduction in the use of general fund cash reserves. The budget plan shows 2027 tax collections at $26.7 million, up from $20.1 million for 2026 but below the $28.5 million in 2024 by about 6%, which factors into determining the 3% levy cap.

Joyce said with a median home assessment of $244,000, the median tax increase will be about $234 in 2027.

The budget proposal adds a dollar to monthly garbage collection fees for the first cart, raising the monthly cost from $16-$21, depending on cart size. A recycling cart would go up 40 cents to $3. Water and sewer rates also would see some increase for all categories of users.

To get to the numbers in the proposed budget, three of the authorized 85 police positions would not be funded and $5 million that had been anticipated toward a police station remodel project would be removed. However, the proposed police budget is up 11.4%, in large part to filling vacant police positions during the past year.

"That still isn't everything they want or need," Joyce said of the department.

The fire department budget is up 3.9%, although a separate plan for city equipment eliminates what had been identified as a high priority purchase of another ladder truck.

Other general fund departments are down 12.9% collectively in proposed spending. The $10 million previously proposed for street maintenance also came down to $9.1 million in the current draft. Including the three police positions, the budget recommends 12 staff positions across various departments remain unfunded, including an assistant city manager and a mobility manager in Minot City Transit.

Overall, the salary line item would go up 0.85%, with health insurance costs for 2027 not yet known.

Major infrastructure projects on the schedule include a $12 million reconstruction of Third Street East and Central Avenue, $7.46 million for the 16th Street Southwest interchange rehabilitation and $7.8 million for watermain replacement.

Joyce presented budget alternatives that include continuing the use of cash reserves for operational expenditures, reducing services or executing a voluntary separation incentive program for employees to reduce staff. Another option is increasing the property tax further. The maximum property tax under the 3% state levy cap is $29.4 million, or about $2.7 million more than proposed in the budget draft.

Samuelson said cuts should start by looking at certain economic development dollars.

"We're spending the same on it and we're getting nothing from it. We're losing population," he said.

Mayor Mark Jantzer said the city manager's budget tries to continue the path toward lower taxes, but it also reflects realities of how much change can be executed in a single budget period or even a couple of years.

He said the use of reserves over the last couple of years to hold down taxes was a good thing.

"We used a lot of reserves," he said. "Of course, that's not sustainable forever. Reserves have limitations, and so the fact that without the ability to do that, we need to walk back a little bit. It shouldn’t be surprising to anybody. Fiscal responsibility means providing the revenue that's necessary to fund city services. That’s what we have to do."

The council's intent is to approve a preliminary budget by Aug. 3 to deliver to Ward County, which will be sending out notices of local government budget hearings. The city's public budget hearing is set for Sept. 8. A final budget is due to the county in October.