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[DULUTH, MN] Mayor Roger Reinert will recommend a maximum property tax levy today that if adopted will result in an average increase of 1.77% during Reinert’s term as mayor and be the lowest levy for three years running for a peer group including Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Rochester, St. Cloud, Bloomington, and St. Louis County.

Reinert’s recommended property tax levy is 2.65% for the City of Duluth portion of 2027 property taxes. This is less than the 2026 proposal of 2.7% and less than the trailing 12-month Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure for inflation.

The total max levy of 3.61% is based on the trailing 12-month Consumer Price Index (CPI) measuring inflation in the economy and captures .96% new growth in the Duluth tax base. It also removes a .75% addition by the City Council last year.

“Affordability is an issue for the City too,” said Reinert. “Inflation, tariffs, and high fuel prices are serious cost factors in the City budget.” Reinert noted that expenses, primarily compensation and benefits, are rising at 6% annually while revenue is only growing at 1.5%. The result is ongoing structural budget deficits.

“Our mission is effective and efficient core city services at a tax rate our residents and businesses can both afford and sustain,” said Reinert. He pointed to “Affordable City Property Taxes” as one of the city’s five strategic goals. “Our community is older than average and less wealthy than average. And property taxes don’t care about ability to pay. We can’t look to solve ongoing budget deficits at the expense of our residential property taxpayers.”

“The City is employing several strategies to keep our max levy the lowest amongst our peers,” said Mayor Reinert. “We’re focusing on core city services, and on being good stewards of money with which we’ve already been entrusted.” The City is also using its five strategic priorities to shape the budget: housing at all income levels, growing the commercial tax base, investing in streets and utilities, reviving downtown, and affordable city property taxes.”

Additional budget strategies include continuing to evaluate every revenue and expense line-item to ensure accurate budgeting, evaluating past employee vacancy savings, adjusting payroll and benefits budgets to reflect actual expenditures, reallocating unused funds, and not increasing overall FTEs.

City Administrator Karla Culhane noted that even in a difficult budget there are some highlights for residents. “We are fully funding a blight mitigation specialist to help improve neighborhood quality of life issues, and we’re moving operational expenses out of the dedicated park levy in order to allocate more of those dollars to park maintenance and improvements.” Culhane noted that the City also plans to spend roughly $1,000,000 on small-scale park improvements. “These are projects of $50,000 or less across our community. Things like fixing a fence, installing a vault toilet, or repaving a parking lot. Small, but beneficial to residents.”

City Councilors must vote on the maximum levy by September 30, and the final city budget by December 31.

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