Two Levies, One Tax Bill: Making Sense of Your 2026 Property Taxes

A Minneapolis homeowner's 2026 property-tax statement reflects more than one government's decisions. The City of Minneapolis and the independently governed Park and Recreation Board each set their own levy, and both appear on the same Hennepin County bill, alongside county and school levies.

Mayor Jacob Frey proposed a 7.8% city levy increase in his 2026 budget, raising the total levied by about $39 million; he said staff cuts and savings had trimmed the figure from a projected 13%, and described it as a disciplined plan with no layoffs. Under that proposal, the owner of a median Minneapolis home valued at $333,000 would pay about $2,272 in city property taxes in 2026, an increase of roughly $240. The City Council ultimately adopted the 2026 budget on a 12-0 vote at an 8% levy increase, slightly above the mayor's proposal.

Separately, the Board of Estimate and Taxation set the Park and Recreation Board's 2026 maximum levy at a 6.11% increase on Sept. 17, 2025, down from the board's original 6.75% request. The city levy funds police, public works and the rest of city government; the park levy funds the lakes, parkways, trails and recreation system.

A homeowner who sees taxes climb may be feeling the city increase, the park increase, changes in the county and school levies, or a shift in their home's assessed value relative to their neighbors' — often several at once. Because each levy is spread across all taxable property in the jurisdiction, two neighbors can see different changes from identical levy increases if their assessments moved differently.

That means there is more than one venue to weigh in: city budget hearings for the city levy, Park Board hearings for the park levy, and the county and school district for their portions. Hennepin County issues the itemized statement and offers online lookup tools, and the city and Park Board post their budget documents online, so residents can trace any increase to its source.