Graco and Upper Harbor Parks Win Extra Funding in the 2026 Levy

When the Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation set the Park and Recreation Board's 2026 maximum property-tax levy on Sept. 17, 2025, it went $1,061,413 above Mayor Jacob Frey's recommendation. The board flagged that additional money in support of Graco Park and Upper Harbor parks, two projects on the city's north riverfront. The added amount was part of the 6.11% maximum levy the BET approved for the Park Board.

Graco Park and the broader Upper Harbor Terminal redevelopment are among the most significant new park investments in the city, turning a stretch of former industrial riverfront into public parkland. The $1,061,413 the BET approved above the mayor's number was directed to provide a standard level of service at the two parks, according to the Park Board's budget materials.

Raising the maximum above the mayor's recommendation is a deliberate act, not an accounting quirk. It lifts the ceiling on what the Park Board can levy specifically to protect a priority the BET majority wanted funded, even at the cost of a slightly higher tax limit.

Graco and Upper Harbor are not in the lakes-and-hill neighborhoods, but the decision reaches every Minneapolis taxpayer, because the park levy is citywide. Lowry Hill and Kenwood homeowners help fund the whole system, just as North Side residents help pay for the lakes parkways and the Chain of Lakes that the western neighborhoods use. The Park Board governs one connected system, and its levy is raised from every neighborhood and directed by an elected board.

The choice also raises a fair question in a system with a long maintenance backlog: whether new dollars should build new riverfront parks or repair existing ones. Residents can follow the Graco and Upper Harbor projects and the board's capital plans at minneapolisparks.org and weigh in at the board's public budget hearings.

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